


dance you into the dawn

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Strictly Come Dancing, F/M, Het, Rare Pair, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-22 10:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8282906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: When the offer to do "Strictly Come Dancing" first comes along, singer Joe West thinks all that's going to happen is he'll learn a new skill in a new country and have the BBC pick up the tab. Little does he know, Strictly's far more eventful than that...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TourmalineQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TourmalineQueen/gifts).



> So over on comment_fic, classics-lover asked for a Strictly Come Dancing AU. On the opening weekend where they had the double header on Friday and Saturday nights. And when I have a playlist on my iPod that is entitled "If I'm Ever on Strictly..." (I may have thought about that far too much.)
> 
> I'm not sure this is what was envisioned, but then, when is if ever with me?

When the initial offer comes in, Joe's first impulse is to refuse it. Just like he's done the last two times they asked him, just like he's done the three times that _Dancing with the Stars_ has asked him. Like Harrison says every time, he doesn't need to do some sort of reality show to bolster his fan base; they've just come off a cross country tour, the last album is still selling like hot cakes and it's time to relax now, write some new songs, get ready to get back into the recording studio and make some new music before they do the whole thing all over again. "Take care of your real career," his agent tells him, "not some imagined one." 

Joe nods because he knows Harrison is right. 

Then he stops and thinks. 

After all, they've just come off a cross country tour with all the gruelling hours and hard work that entailed, one that began a scant month after Iris's wedding. Oh, she told him that she and Barry didn't mind delaying their honeymoon, after all what would the band be without their backup vocalist and best guitar player? They'd enjoyed the tour, they always did, but his baby girl deserves a break, deserves some time to set up home with her new husband and maybe, just maybe, work on giving Joe some of those grandkids he always asks about. 

There won't be much time for that if he's dragging them to song writing sessions. 

Besides, the idea has some sort of appeal. He's performed on the show twice, even done a few twirls around the floor with some of the dancers. He'd enjoyed it, it had been fun and one of the girls, long dark hair with a New York accent and legs for miles, had told him that he could be her dance partner any day. (That had made one of the other pro dancers, a short guy with floppy hair, glare at Joe, who had just ignored it.) So maybe he wouldn't be a complete embarrassment to himself. 

Then there was the challenge of learning a new skill, of being paid to learn a new skill even. Live in a different country for a few months, have the BBC footing the bill? 

Harrison nearly swallows his teeth when he hears the words, "I'll do it," but Joe's mind is made up and he won't be denied. 

It all seems like a great idea until his name is actually released. His practically dormant Twitter account picks up a thousand new followers in the next couple of days, all before he's danced a step. Iris takes great delight in reading some of the blogs devoted to the show, not to mention all the comments already playing guess who will be paired with who. She cackles as she reads some of the entries, shakes her head. "I knew this show was big over there," she muses, "but I had no idea it was this big." She puts down her phone, the biggest smile he's ever seen, absent her wedding day, on her face. "This is going to be fun." 

Barry shoots Joe a look, rolls his eyes. "This is what you're leaving me with?" he asks and Joe mock glares at him, without too much mocking. 

"Yeah it is... so you'd better take care of her." 

Except that Iris refuses to miss the launch show so they fly over with him, have prime seats right on the red carpet as Joe and all the other celebrities (Joe hates that word, wonders what he should replace it with. Contestants? Competitors? Victims?) emerge from a succession of giant stagecoaches (because why the hell not?) and do their best to dance towards the stage. It's hard when the screaming public means they can barely hear the music but from the two thumbs up that Iris shoots his way, he doesn't think he did too badly. 

Being on the red carpet with fourteen other people isn't too bad, especially since he already knows them a little from the few days of group rehearsals they've had. It's more nerve wracking when he's actually standing on the stairs in the studio, giant glitterball superimposed on the screen behind the live band. For a brief, crazy moment he considers trying to hide in with the band - it's far more his wheelhouse - but seeing as they're all clad in dark suits and he's wearing something lilac and sparkly with a deep vee that shows more of his chest than he's ever exposed before, he thinks he'd stick out like a sore thumb. They divide the men into groups of three to pair them off with the professional women and he's among the first lot to be called. He's grateful for that because he's far more nervous than he thought he'd be and the sooner he gets this over with, the better. He ends up standing with a retired Premier League footballer and a soap actor who looks even younger than Iris, both similarly attired to him and smelling of fake tan and nerves. The soap star gets paired with a blonde Russian who lets out a shriek of delight - Joe has seen him move during dance rehearsals, he can't actually blame her - while the footballer is paired with Miss Long Hair and Legs who had been eying up Joe all through the rehearsals. If she's disappointed she doesn't show it, sashaying and shimmying into the footballer's arms and he, it must be said, looks thrilled with life. 

Then it's Joe's turn. 

The host, Tess, a tall willowy blonde, takes his hand and introduces him, going off script to tell him, "You're shaking, you poor thing!" like he doesn't already know it. He manages to say something about usually having his band behind him, which allows the host to mention Iris and Barry sitting in the audience. The camera pans on to them and he can't help but smile at Iris's huge wave. 

"So... which one of these lovely ladies will you be making sweet music with?"

He'd be rolling his eyes at the way too obvious line if he wasn't so preoccupied with his churning stomach and there's a long wait with a thumping heart beat - much slower than Joe's own - in the background while the camera pans along the five ladies waiting with fixed smiles. 

"It's Caitlin!" 

One of the dancers breaks from the ranks with a cheer and a grin on her face, and Joe feels himself smile as she does a series of quick turns across the floor and lands at his side, drops one hand onto his chest and kisses his cheek. As greetings go, it's one of the milder ones - one of the male professionals will later literally grab his celebrity partner and spin her off her feet before dipping her low to the ground, making her shriek in what Joe hopes is excitement but rather suspects might be something else - and Joe operates on instinct, slides one arm around her waist, taking her hand from his chest and bringing it to his lips. There's a bit of an ooh from the audience, another one from Tess and she wisely waits until the clapping calms before she asks them, "So, are we happy with this pairing?" 

"Very happy," Joe says and he's not just saying that. He'd had a turn around the floor with Caitlin last season when he'd performed on the show, when she and her professional partner, Cisco, had been one of the three couples who performed as he sang. 

"Caitlin?" Tess is smiling at Caitlin. "You approve?" 

"Absolutely," his new partner says, grinning up at him. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun together." 

*

The group dance, with all the celebrities and pros on the dance floor for the first time, passes without any major mistakes from Joe, and is the kind of delightful carnage that has his Twitter mentions (Iris has schooled him on actually how to work the damn account - "People want to hear what you have to say, Dad, you need to use this!") showing more activity than he can keep up with. 

Not that he has much time to keep up with them, not once rehearsals proper start. "We're starting with the waltz," Caitlin tells him as he tries to ignore the twin cameras in each corner of the room, the operators following their every move. 

"That's slow, right?" He'd been dreading something like high energy like the jive but he knows he's said the wrong thing when Caitlin purses her lips. 

"Yes... which actually makes it harder. We're going to need to work on your technique, your hold, your posture..."

He's nodding like he knows what she's talking about. "What's the song?" 

Her lips twitch. "It's _Iris_ by the Goo Goo Dolls. Do you know it?"

Now his nodding is more enthusiastic. "That's a great track." He rubs a hand over his lips. "It's my daughter's name, actually." 

Caitlin looks down so that the camera can't pick up her expression. Joe doesn't miss it though; if it's not a full eye roll it's definitely close. "So, let's get started," she says before he can ask anything else and then she's pulling and prodding at him as she begins to teach him the steps. 

By lunchtime, he's ready for a break and thanks to some small miracle, the cameras deign to leave him and Caitlin alone with their food. They eat in silence for a couple of minutes before he says, "So, what was the look about?"

Caitlin blinks, like she doesn't know what he's talking about and this might be the first day they're spending any proper time together but Joe's good at reading people, knows she's not faking it. "What look?" 

"When I told you Iris is my daughter's name. You made sure the camera didn't catch it, but I did. So?" He makes a 'gimme' motion with his hands and she smiles as she relaxes back. 

"Sometimes," she tells him, "we're allowed to pick the music. Sometimes it's picked for us. This was the latter." 

Now it's his turn to blink. "The producers gave us that song on purpose?" 

"Yep." She plays with the straw in her drink. "And for week two, we have the cha cha." That's news to him. "To _Soul Man_." She takes a sip of her drink to let that sink in. 

Joe slumps back in his chair. "You're kidding me." 

"And strangely, neither are the most eye roll worthy choice I've ever heard of," she continues. He must look sceptical because she goes on, "It's just the way it is, you get used to it. You could have Buzz Aldrin on the show and he'd be waltzing to _Rocket Man_ , or _Life on Mars_ , doing a tango to _I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper_..."

She's warming to her theme and Joe tilts his head. "Can we bring that to the producers?" he asks. "Dude's gotta be almost ninety years old, I'd like to see that. I might even vote for him." 

Caitlin's been a stern taskmaster all morning and that's the first time he's heard her laugh. She throws her head back, her messy ponytail swaying back and forth as her shoulders shake and when she looks at him, her eyes are dancing with mirth. 

It's a good look on her and he decides she was right - this just might be fun. 

*

Three weeks later it's opening night and Joe is revising his opinion. His nerves on launch night are nothing compared to the butterflies that have taken flight in his stomach and as he paces the corridor backstage, holding his arms up in what he hopes is perfect ballroom hold, he swears he's forgotten every step of the dance. That they've put him in a morning suit isn't helping him - he can't quite get used to the swish of the tails and the bow tie feels like it's about to strangle him. 

"Stop panicking." 

His partner's voice, crisp and stern, she who must be obeyed, comes from behind him and he turns, ready to fire a hundred questions at her. 

Then he sees her and his jaw actually drops, something that he would have said was just an expression, something that can't happen in real life.

He'd already seen her hair and makeup during rehearsals and anyway, the sleek ponytail, curled into a perfect s-shape isn't that far away from the ratty one she usually sports at rehearsal. The leggings and t-shirts she usually wears, however, are a million miles away from the dress she's sporting at the moment. It's pale pink with a full skirt that swishes as she walks and when she does a little twirl like Iris used to when she was a little girl, he sees that it's backless, save for two sparkly straps crisscrossing. There's some sort of scarf-like bits of material attracted to her wrists giving an almost wing like illusion and he's not a man who's given to fits of hyperbole but the only words he can use to describe her are ones like ethereal and otherworldly. 

Except what comes out is, "Wow." 

A pleased blush coats Caitlin's cheeks as she steps towards him, taking his hands. He goes into hold straight away and she grins. "Bit of a difference from training, I know." She drops his hands, smoothes the shoulders of his suit jacket. "And not just for me." 

He looks down and grimaces. "I feel like a penguin." 

She arches an eyebrow. "As long as you don't dance like one, we'll be fine." 

Just then, they hear a call - "Five minutes!" - and they're on their way backstage. 

The introductions go well - he doesn't fall down the stairs which was a recurring nightmare he'd begun to have - and they're not dancing until halfway through so they have plenty of time to sit upstairs in what Caitlin calls "The Clauditorium" watching their new friends go through their paces. Some of good, some are very good - Mr Soap Star more than lives up to his partner's shriek of joy - and a couple let their nerves get the better of them. Which doesn't help Joe's nerves in any way and Caitlin keeps shooting him quick glances, reminding him he's going to be fine. There's not enough saliva in his mouth for him to respond and then suddenly their names are called and her hand is warm in his as they wave to the cameras before they go on. 

They get into position, bodies close together, right side to right side, heads almost touching but not quite, as their training VT is shown and one of the weirdest feelings Joe's ever had comes over him as he listens to his own voice talking about who he is and how he's looking forward to this. He hears Caitlin talking about how well he's doing, hears the name of the song being mentioned and then, in an unexpected twist, he hears Iris's voice. "I can't wait to see him," she says and he can hear the smile even if he can't see her face. "I know he's going to be amazing." 

A lump rises in his throat and he sucks in a breath. "Hey." Caitlin's voice is so quiet he can barely hear it, her lips hardly moving as her hands comes up to cup the back of his neck for their starting pose. "You and me. Just like training."

He looks down at her and nods and just as the music is about to start, he does what he always does on stage. "This is for Iris," he thinks. "My baby girl." 

Then the music starts and they are off. 

He doesn't remember much of the dance when the music stops, but Caitlin's arms are around his neck and she's laughing with sheer joy. His is more of relief that they got through it and he almost forgets that they have to go over and actually get their marks. As he approaches Tess, he realises that some people are standing up and Tess takes great delight in pointing that out to them. 

"Did you enjoy that, because we did," she trills and Joe nods, pulls Caitlin a little closer with the arm that's around her waist. 

"I did," he says. "I can't remember huge amounts of it, but Caitlin's smiling so it can't have been too bad." 

Which leads nicely into Caitlin being asked for her opinion and her hand covers Joe's heart as she talks. "He did a fantastic job," she says. "He's worked so hard in training on his hold, on his footwork, and I don't think you could have done that any better." 

The judges have their own opinions, of course. Bruno, the loquacious Italian is up first with a, "My dear, that was simply charming," and an admonition to be careful to finish off his lines. He waves his arms to demonstrate and nearly takes out the eye of Len, the judge sitting beside him, who offers praise for his heel leads. Joe glances down at Caitlin, who'd drilled those into him and says, "You were right," because she'd said Len was all about the technique. He means it to be just for her ears but Tess hears everything, announces, "She put those in just for you, Len!" Darcey, the elegant former ballerina, calls the routine, "Simply lovely," and echoes Bruno's comment about finishing lines. That leaves Craig, the so-called meanie of the bunch, who leads with "cloyingly saccharine," and points out that Joe's hand and in particular his thumb was in the wrong place on Caitlin's back. The crowd boo and Len looks disgusted but Joe looks down at Caitlin and grins. She grins back. "Told you," she whispers and he nods, because she'd warned him that that was the type of thing Craig would pick on every time she caught him doing it. Which, to be fair, had been a lot. 

"What do you think of those comments?" Tess asks. 

"I think they're fair," Joe says. "I know I still have a lot of work to do but it's all about improving every week and building on that..."

"The journey," interjects Caitlin, a gleam in her eye that Joe doesn't quite understand but Tess seems to approve. 

"All about the journey," she echoes and sends them up the stairs to Claudia. 

The other host, all dark hair and eyeliner, is quite the character and when they reach their spots for the camera, she claps Joe on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry that you look so awful in tails," she tells him, completely deadpan as everyone else laughs. "Caitlin, it must be so hard to dance with him looking like this." 

"Dreadful," Caitlin agrees, a tone in her voice and look on her face that manages to convey the exact opposite sentiment. 

"Quite." Claudia nods. "And our first j-word of the series, might I add..." There are hoots from the other dancers and Joe makes a mental note to ask about that later on. "But you're happy." 

Joe points at Caitlin. "As long as she's happy, I'm happy," he says. 

"Caitlin?"

"Oh, I'm happy." 

"And the scores are in." 

They're enough for middle of the pack - a five from Craig, sixes from the others - and that's more than enough for Joe. "I've been dreaming about getting ones," he tells the backstage camera, laughing when Caitlin swats his chest. 

"Only with a zero beside it," she orders and just like he did when they were paired together, he catches her hand and kisses her knuckles. 

"Yes, Ma'am." 

*

Training for the second dance seems harder than the first, whether that's because it's faster, or has totally different technique or the fact that they only have one week instead of three to master it. He does discover that he's not too bad at moving his hips and although he's not too keen when Caitlin initially gives him a bit of solo work to do, he has to admit that when he sees it back on training footage, he doesn't look totally terrible. 

On the Wednesday, they take a break from training for their weekly visit to the nightly _It Takes Two_ show, where they are interviewed about their training and thoughts on how week one went. Caitlin's professional partner Cisco is there with his partner, a British tennis player Joe's never heard of but they bond over blisters and technique difficulties while Cisco presses a twenty pound note into Caitlin's hand with a twist of his lips and a shake of his head. 

"Word to the wise, never bet against this woman," he tells Joe. 

"Wasn't planning on it," Joe says, looking at Caitlin because he knows he's missing something. 

"Cisco and I had twenty bucks on which of us could say 'journey' first," she explains, folding the note and tucking it inside her bra while Joe hastily averts his eyes. 

"Lunch tomorrow's on you," he tells her and she high-fives her agreement.

When show night comes, Joe's once again in the corridor, convinced he's forgotten his steps, when a wolf whistle halts him in his tracks. "Did they stitch you into those trousers?" Caitlin teases and when he turns to look at her, what he hopes is a witty retort on the tip of his tongue, his jaw drops for the second week in a row. This time, it's to do with what she's not wearing rather than what she is - the hot pink top, the same colour as his with sparkles a plenty, could charitably be described as a bikini, while the skirt, all frills and lace, is short enough to qualify as a belt. Acres of tan, toned stomach and leg are exposed to his gaze, while her hair is a riot of ringlets pulled back into a ponytail. 

He forces his mouth closed - there are cameras everywhere and the last thing he wants to do is come off like some dirty old man, ogling a girl who's not that much older than his own daughter - and takes a step towards her. "I've forgotten everything." 

"It'll all come back once the band starts," she promises, sliding her arm through his. "Come on, from the top, you do the music..."

Just like in rehearsal, he sings along as they walk through the dance and he wonders idly how any of the girls survive in those outfits in the dead of winter if Caitlin's so cold in October that there are goosebumps on her arms. 

The dance doesn't go quite as well as the first - he forgets his hips entirely, then gets muddled up on heel and toe leads and Len's eagle eyes don't miss that. Craig takes issue with the placing of his leg and how it's too flexed - Caitlin actually hisses her disapproval and Joe's taken aback because he's never heard her do that before. The word "spatulistic" is used to describe his hands and Joe has to cop to that one because, once again, Caitlin's been warning him about shaping all week. The scores take a very slight dip - two fives and two sixes - leaving them solidly middle of the pack when facing into the public vote. Caitlin's face is tight when she realises that and he doesn't understand why until she explains some voter maths to him - this week, the ones at the top are likely safe, the ones at the bottom will get lots of votes to keep them in while the ones in the middle, like them, are easily forgotten, thus they're in the most dangerous place on the leader board. 

Which is enough to make him nervous all over again and it only gets worse when they line up for the actual results. He and Caitlin are made stand at the top of the stairs, her at his right side, her left arm around his waist, his right around hers. The BBC do their part to ramp up the drama - as if they need to - by placing the two lowest ranked couples in a dance off for survival and as couple after couple is called safe, Caitlin's fingers begin to flex against his side. Four couples are left standing, the sound of that heartbeat echoing Joe's own, and then he hears his name and Caitlin's shriek of joy as she throws her arms around his neck and leaps into his arms. He hugs her back, leans back and lifts her higher, puts her down as she says "Thank you," to the voting public and he follows suit. When the light above their heads goes off, she heaves a sigh of relief, leans heavily against him as her head falls against his shoulder, his arms continuing to circle her waist until the last couple is called safe and they head back to the Clauditorium for a group interview. 

Joe gets the prime spot on the couch right next to Claudia, who asks him the expected question about next week's dance, even gets him to try his tango face on for size. She hoots when he does it and he decides to take that as a good thing. He's surprised when she directs the next question to Caitlin, who's standing behind him, her hands on his shoulders. "Caitlin, in all the years we've been on this show, I've never seen you react like that, ever. Tell me, are you excited?" 

Joe twists his head to try to see her but he can't quite manage it. "I am," Caitlin admits and he can hear her smiling but he'd bet his bottom dollar that she's blushing too. (He looks at the show when it airs the next night; she is.) "I think knowing that we were in that dangerous middle zone, and then we were left until near the end..."

Claudia nods. "Did you think you were on your way home?" 

He guesses Caitlin is nodding (she is, the recording proves it) and Joe says, "I'm just glad that people voted for us, so thank you." He blows a kiss into the camera and Claudia moves on to the next couple. Caitlin's hands squeeze Joe's shoulders and he fights the urge to reach up and cover them with his own.


	2. Chapter 2

Week three brings the first of the famous Theme Weeks and this one is Movie Week. He and Caitlin get the tango, set to Neil Diamond's _America_ and Joe raises his eyebrows when Caitlin tells him that. 

"From _Soul Man_ to _Jazz Singer_ , seriously?" he asks and she gives him a look as she pulls her hair up into its usual ponytail. 

"You were a cop before you were a singer, right?" When he nods, she grins. "Good... I've been choreographing something to _I Fought the Law_ since we got teamed up." 

"I play piano too," he tells her and her grin grows wider. 

"I've got _Piano Man_ on my iPod." 

Then her hands are on his and she's explaining how his hold needs to be different for the tango than the waltz, his hand needs to be lower on her back, she needs to be a little more to his right. She seems happy with how he gets down in his knees, tells him as the week progresses that his body contact is improving (he's really not used to having a woman pressed against him constantly and his natural instinct is to try to move back) although his head placement is a continuing issue.  


"Stop looking at me!" she commands more than once, pushing his head back into place. 

"But I want to see if you're smiling," he tells her and from then on it's like a competition with himself to see if he can find a line that makes her really smile. 

"I need to check if you're frowning."

"I need to see if your nose is doing that scrunchy thing it does when I make a mistake." 

"You're too pretty not to look at." 

The last one slips out before he can stop it and he tells himself that the flush on her cheeks is just because of the exertion of the dancing. 

The scores go up that week, all sixes but a seven from Len who announces it as "Sev-EN!" which makes Caitlin jump up and down and clap her hands. 

They're called safe earlier that week too, but Caitlin still jumps into his arms and he still lifts her off her feet. 

*

After the tango, something funny happens on social media - they pick up fans. A Twitter account called "TeamJoeLinFTW" follows him and Caitlin and the amount of mentions he gets easily doubles. Iris is a keen follower and she direct messages him some of her favourite tweets, some that make him laugh, some that actually make him blush. 

Their next dance is a salsa and when Caitlin plays the music, Joe's grin is ear to ear. "Ain't no way that one was picked for you," he says as _Bidi Bidi Bom Bom_ blares out across the rehearsal space. "No BBC producer ever heard of Selena Quintanilla Perez." 

Caitlin is already shimmying around the room and he watches her, hoping to pick up pointers. "It's one of my favourites," she admits. He tries to copy one particular step, thinks he's nailed it when her face lights up. "Oh, that's going in!"

"I have to be honest." He keeps his face straight as he cha-cha walks over to her, not doing a bad job of keeping the beat. "You're not going to be my first dance partner to this song." She tilts her head curiously, laughs as he takes her by the hand and pivots her into an underarm turn. 

"Iris?" she guesses. 

"We may have danced around the kitchen to this song. A lot." He puts emphasis on last two words, remembering his daughter's laughter as he'd spun her around. "Of course, she was like three feet tall at the time..."

"We'll work in some steps just for her," Caitlin promises and does something very fast and complicated with her feet that Joe makes her repeat several times until he can figure out how it works. 

"Did I tell you she's coming over next week if-" She glares, he stops both dancing and speaking, rethinks his words. "When we get through." 

"Much better," she said and he doesn't know if she means the words or the dancing. Either way, he's good so he doesn't ask. 

It turns out the combination of a song that means a lot to him, one that they both like, has a significant effect on his dancing, even when adding in lifts, which he'd been dreading. Caitlin starts him off easy, more assisted flips with carries out than some of the lifts he's seen other people doing - one boxer with muscles like Popeye almost sends his partner up to clean the light bulbs - but they fit well with the music and they must look good because people are on their feet when they finish and Tess is applauding right along with them. "Where have you been hiding those hips?" she demands before Joe can even catch his breath and Caitlin takes advantage of his silence, grabbing his hips and rotating them, making the audience laugh and hoot as Tess pretends to fan herself. 

Even Craig has a smile on his face as he actually praises the choreography and interpretation - Joe takes a step away from Caitlin at that, bows to her with an exaggerated flourish and applauds her, gesturing to the audience to keep it up. She shakes her head and laughs at him, happy tears in her eyes, steepling her hands over her lips and even that can't hide her smile. Darcey takes a leaf out of Tess's book, fanning herself and praising his movement, but warning him to be careful with entries and exits to the lifts - "In salsa, you can get away with it, just about. Next week, in American Smooth, you won't." Bruno is up out of his seat trying to copy the hip movement in his praise of it, nearly knocking Len out of his chair but that doesn't seem to upset Len overmuch because he simply smiles and points to Joe. "Well, there's no show like a Joe show," he says. "I'll see you next week." 

Up in the Clauditorium, the catcalls reach a crescendo and Claudia milks it for all she is worth. "Is it hot in here," she asks, "or is it just you?" Joe doesn't quite know how to answer that but Cisco, of all people, saves him from having to as he pops in between him and Caitlin, places one index finger of each of their shoulders and makes a sizzling sound. "Seriously," Claudia continues, "where have you been hiding that?" 

"It's this one," Joe says, pulling Caitlin close with one arm, grinning down at her. "She comes up with the good ideas, I just do what I'm told." 

"And I believe your daughter is coming over next week?" 

Joe nods, looks into the camera. "This was one of her favourite songs growing up, we used to dance to it in the kitchen, so I wish she'd been here tonight but it'll be great to have her here next week." A thought hits him then. "So, please vote!" That's said directly to camera and from the calls of the other dancers, it sounds like they think they should be back. 

The scores seem to agree - they get three eights, a seven from Craig, to give them their highest total yet. This week, they're the first called safe and he lifts her off her feet and spins her around before she has time to leap into his arms. 

*

He really, really wants to pick Iris up at the airport. He hasn't seen his baby girl in seven weeks and, frankly, that's at least six weeks too long for him. But of course, he has to practise and, as Caitlin points out, Iris greeting him in the rehearsal studio looks much better for the cameras. 

They have the American Smooth this week which, as Caitlin points out, means up to three lifts and based on the critique they got, they really have to work on getting in and out of them seamlessly. "Which we're not doing until you've seen Iris," she tells him pointedly. "I don't want to be dropped if she walks in the door when I'm six feet in the air." 

Joe raises his eyebrows as he flexes his muscles. "Six feet? I like your optimism." That leads to Caitlin giving him a mini-lecture on physics and the science of lifting that he only half understands and maybe she sees that because she takes him in waltz hold and sets him moving. 

The song they've been given makes him rub his hands together. "I do this in my set," he tells her as Nat King Cole's _L.O.V.E_ sounds across the room and her raised eyebrow speaks volumes. "You already knew that, huh?"

"Lucky guess," she says as he takes her in his arms. Up close, he can see the edges of her lips twitch as she fights back a smile, can see that her eyes are bright with mirth even if her face is mostly neutral. "Let's dance." 

He dances, but he knows the song so well he can't help but croon it in her ear as they're moving around the floor. He knows it's probably not helping his breathing but she doesn't tell him to stop, just like she doesn't seem to mind that he's got one eye on her and one eye on the door. 

He figures something's up when one of the camera operators touches their earpiece, zooms in a little bit closer on him. Sure enough, next thing he knows the rehearsal door opens and Iris's head peeks through. She lets out a squeal when she sees him and Caitlin releases him from hold and he's across the room in an instant, picking Iris up and holding her close. He peppers her cheek with kisses which she hasn't let him do since she was a kid, dancing around the kitchen with him, but she doesn't mind today, kisses him right back. 

"I saw you on Saturday," she tells him when he puts her down. "You were a-maz-ing!" It's an impression of Craig that's pretty dead on and it makes him throw back his head and laugh. He realises then that the music has stopped and he glances over his shoulder to see Caitlin standing by the music player, smiling at their family reunion. 

"Get over here, you." He's not usually the one giving the orders in here but she obeys without question. "Come meet my baby girl." 

"Dad..." Iris puts seven extra syllables into the word and he squeezes her shoulder as he pulls her close. 

"Remember... you'll always be..."

"Your baby, I know."

It's a familiar routine for them and by the time they complete it, Caitlin is beside them. "Iris, this is Caitlin. Caitlin. Iris." Joe does official introductions, even though they had met briefly, very briefly, at the launch show. 

"It's so great to finally meet you properly." Iris steps out from his arms, pulls Caitlin into a warm hug. "Please, tell me he's behaving himself."

Joe doesn't even have to give Caitlin a look before she replies, "He's an excellent student." 

"I can't believe what you're getting him to do." Iris's eyes are wicked as she looks back over her shoulder at him. "Last week was so good!" She holds up her hands. "OK, I admit, I may have looked at some of the hip gyrations through my fingers..." Joe knows better than to breathe an audible sigh of relief at that but he's still relieved - with Iris as one of his backing singers, they spend a lot of time together and he's learned to tread a fine line so as not to embarrass her. That salsa, though, and people's reactions to it, had rendered the line pretty much invisible. "I don't think Grandma Esther would have approved." 

Indeed, his mother's reaction would not have been pretty. "Well, we have ballroom this week, so you should be safe," he says. "Safer than Caitlin, anyway..." 

Iris looks confused and Caitlin puts her out of her misery. "American Smooth means more lifts this week. And harder."

Iris bounces a little and he's reminded of her as a kid begging if she can stay up just a little longer in case she gets to see Santa. "Can I watch?" 

Caitlin laughs. "Please, like he's going to let you leave." She glances up at the clock. "Why don't we meet back here in an hour? You two can get some lunch, catch up..."

The couple of hours of dancing have worked up Joe's appetite but he doesn't want to leave Caitlin on her own - he's got used to sharing lunch with her, hearing stories about the show's previous seasons, all the behind the scenes gossip that he's never heard before and would never have guessed at. (Iris had sent him links to some articles when he'd first signed up which he had read and near as he can make out from what Caitlin's told him, most of the rumours were true and the ones that didn't get out were even wilder than the ones that did.) Before he can say anything though, Iris speaks up. "Caitlin, come with us." 

Caitlin's head shakes so quickly that pieces of her ponytail fly loose. "I couldn't intrude..."

"You're so not intruding," Iris tells her. "I've been dying to hear all about how Dad's really getting on. And I'm sure I have some tips for you on getting him to do what you want him to do..."

At that, Caitlin does look interested and Joe looks from one to the other, his finger moving between them. "Are you two ganging up on me?" 

The two women look at one another, then back at him. "Yes," they say simultaneously and he suddenly realises that this week more than any other, he'd really better say his prayers. 

Iris doesn't spend all her time that week in training with them, but she attends for at least an hour each day, taping some run-throughs on her phone so that Joe can see where he's dropping his elbow or turning his head the wrong way. They work hard on the lifts, rehearsing them over and over until Joe can do them without thinking, muscle memory telling him where his hands and body are supposed to be. Spinning with Caitlin in his arms is the scariest part because he's afraid of getting dizzy and dropping her, but by the end of the week, he's far more confident. Having Iris there helps as well because she appoints herself Hand Watcher in Chief and Joe, used to the ways of the editors by now, knows her calls of "Thumb!", "Hand!", "Spatula!" are going to look dynamite in the pre-dance VT. (They do.)

It doesn't hurt that the two women in his life get on like an absolute house on fire and for some of their lunches, he might as well not be there. They gang up on him, as he'd suspected they were going to, laughing at his near complete ignorance at social media (he's getting the hang of Twitter, he hasn't a clue what Snapchat is and doesn't care to find out) and looking back at YouTube clips of their dances. 

"I checked out some of you and Cisco too," Iris tells Caitlin at lunch on the third day. "You guys are incredible." 

Caitlin ducks her head, flattered. "We've been partners since we were twelve," she tells Iris and even though none of this is news to Joe, he listens anyway. He likes hearing Caitlin's stories about life in the dance world. "That makes it easier." 

Iris narrows her eyes. "OK, I have to ask... Did you two ever..."

Caitlin laughs, shakes her head. "You're not the first," she answers. "But no, never." Iris looks surprised. "We grew up together, he's literally like my brother..." 

Raising her glass to her lips, Iris shakes her head. "I saw the Argentine tango you two did last year on the show," she says and there's a sudden wistfulness to her voice that Joe recognises but chooses not to address. "I would not dance like that with my brother." 

Caitlin either doesn't pick up on it or doesn't respond to it because she just laughs, says something about acting the dance and Joe pushes painful memories aside in favour of wondering why the hell he hasn't checked out some of Caitlin's pro work. 

He rectifies that oversight that very evening, finds the dance that Iris had mentioned and when he does, he watches it three times in a row and each time finds something that he'd missed on the previous watch. "Incredible," he murmurs to himself and he understands now why Iris had asked the question she had - any time he's seen Cisco and Caitlin together, they've been laughing and joking around. At the conclusion of their Argentine Tango, if someone had said they'd gone straight to the nearest horizontal surface, he would have believed them in a heartbeat. He falls down a YouTube rabbit hole then, finds as many dances with Cisco and with her previous partners on The show as he can and there's a vain part of him that notices that their performances have the most views of any of them. 

Iris comes with them to _It Takes Two_ , even gets coaxed onto the sofa by Zoe who asks her how she feels about Joe's time on the show. "Oh, it's incredible," she gushes. "I think when he first told me he was doing it, I thought he was insane..." She giggles as he pretends to look offended. "But you know, I watch the clips every week and we talk every couple of days about what he's doing, and Caitlin, I think, is just the best partner for him, she is wonderful..."

"You two get along then?" Zoe asks and Joe actually snorts. 

"I think Iris prefers Caitlin to me," he says and Iris nods. 

"Next season, first all female couple, me and Caitlin." The crew laugh and clap and Caitlin reaches around Joe to give her a high five. 

"You see what I have to put up with?" he mock grumbles to Zoe, but she's not having any of it. 

"He loves it really," she says to the camera and Joe has to admit that she's not wrong.

He's back in his tails on show night, pacing up and down the corridor in what he's come to think of as their spot. He's in white tie and tails this time, which makes the whole affair a little more glamorous somehow and when he sees her coming towards him, it's his turn to give a low whistle. She's in a long silver ballgown, halter-necked and sleeveless, bedecked with enough rhinestones to rival the famous glitterball trophy. The skirt swishes around her ankles when she walks, is trimmed with silver feathers and Joe doesn't even want to know where they found those. "You look stunning," he says and she preens a little and it's only as he takes her hand that he realises a camera is nearby, capturing the moment for posterity, or at least Monday's postmortem on _It Takes Two_.

Knowing Iris is watching in the front row ups his nerves a little and he's glad Caitlin had the foresight to choreograph their starting position as the two of them face to face, his right hand on her left hip, her right hand on his left shoulder. "You and me," she says in the seconds before the music starts, just like she does every Saturday night. "Just like training." 

It actually goes better than training. He remembers all his steps, all his heel leads and the lifts are, if he does say so himself, smooth and seamless. Ninety seconds seems to fly by and before he knows it, he and Caitlin are doing the last little hand to hand dance steps that pick up the accents in the music and then he's dipping her low in his arms right on the beat as she kicks her leg up in the air and then there's a roar of applause from the crowd. "Yes!" Caitlin shouts, abandoning the end pose and flinging her arms around his neck and he lifts her up, not caring about finesse this time and spins her around before walking a couple of steps towards Tess before he puts her down. 

He knows it's a live show so he gets to his mark before he turns to look for Iris and Tess, being Tess, knows just what he's doing. "Look at your daughter," she says, pointing towards the seat and Joe's grateful because he's all turned around and he can't spot her at first. When he does, he realises why - Iris's hands are over her face, only her eyes visible and from clear across the dance floor he can see she's bawling her eyes out. "She's crying!" Tess says, a trifle unnecessarily, and Joe is moving before he knows what he's doing, crossing the dance floor quickly and pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek. 

He apologises when he gets back to Tess and the judges and Caitlin, but when Caitlin leans against him as she slips her arm around her waist, he's pretty sure she understands. 

They start with Len, Mr Ballroom and, Joe knows, the judge that Caitlin always wants to impress, choreographs to, when it comes to ballroom. He can feel her hold her breath and when Len begins by pointing his finger at the two of them, Joe feels a second of dread. "Let me tell you what that was," Len begins and he almost sounds angry. "That was an American Smooth from a smooth American." The audience roars its approval and Caitlin actually sags against him, looking up to heaven in sheer relief. "No faffing around, your footwork was light as a feather, great on the lifts..." He points at Joe again. "You are what this competition is all about." 

That makes Tess grab his arm and repeat the compliment and all Joe can do is nod. Next up is Darcey who praises the lifts - "It can be so hard to get in and out of them and you made it look effortless. Exquisite." Then comes Bruno, who praises the swing and sway and sweep and Joe's expecting him to be out of his seat by this stage so it doesn't come as a huge surprise. Craig is left until last and Joe braces himself, feels Caitlin doing likewise. Then he notices that there's something different about Craig's face, that even though it's pretty impassive, the corners of his lips look to be tugging upwards. "Light, airy, beautiful lifts and spins, I loved the story that, you, Caitlin, choreographed... and I saw from the VT that you had your daughter coaching you on your hands?" He gestures towards Iris and Joe glances over, sees her biting her lip nervously. "You should have got her over here weeks ago, darling, because the improvement is huge, not a spatula in sight!" He bangs on the table with the end of his pen to emphasise his point, or to make himself heard over the sudden round of applause. Caitlin bounces on her feet and reaches up to hug him and Joe hugs her back. "Fab-u-lous," Craig intones to finish and Joe feels like he's ten feet tall. 

"I'll take that," is all he has time to say to Tess before she shoos them up to Claudia and it's a short interview there too, probably because of his run across the floor to Iris. Which of course, Claudia mentions. "I have to admit, I was looking at your daughter as much as I was looking at the two of you," she says and, on the screens in front of them, Joe sees the camera cut to Iris. "She was sobbing... I mean proper sobbing, look how proud she is of you..." Iris shoots the camera a beaming grin and two thumbs up. "What does it mean to you, to have her here?" 

Joe doesn't have to think about his answer. "Everything," he says and every female in the room makes some sort of little noise. "To perform like that, to get that reception, to have her see it... And to have her in training this week, to see her and Caitlin getting on so well..." He shakes his head at the lump that rises suddenly in his throat. "It's everything."

Claudia lays a hand in his arm. "Not a dry eye in the house," she says, looking into the camera. "Scores are in." 

Craig gives them an eight, but the others come through with three nines and Caitlin leaps into his arms and holds on tight. There's a tremor in her shoulders and when she pulls back to look at him, there's a sheen in her eyes and he realises that Claudia was right. 

This week, they're called safe third, but Joe thinks to himself that even if they'd gone home right then and there, it would all have been worth it. 

*


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday is their day off and he and Iris spend it together, walking around London, doing a bit of the hop on hop off bus tour, taking a million photos, some of which get uploaded to Twitter, some of which are kept private. They ask Caitlin if she wants to join them - well, Iris does - but Caitlin cries off, says they deserve some father-daughter time together. 

The next morning, he goes with Iris to the airport and sees her off - he insists on that much - but traffic is ridiculous going back into he city so he ends up running late for rehearsal, is already out of breath by the time he gets there, which does not bode well for starting to train a jive. For once, Caitlin goes easy on him, walking him through some basic technique about how to hold his foot while doing flicks and kicks, trying to get him to stay up on the balls of his feet as much as possible in other steps. "This is all for Len, isn't it?" he asks as he wipes his face with a towel and her eyes dance as she smiles. 

"You're catching on." 

That week also happens to be Halloween week and the make-up department go to town, changing people into werewolves and witches and zombies and all kinds of monsters. Joe and Caitlin get off relatively lightly, as their jive is to _Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?_ from _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_. He ends up in some sort of t-shirt and suspenders outfit, the thickest coke bottle glasses he's ever seen over his eyes, while Caitlin's hair is frizzed up into pigtails and she's wearing a shirt dress and pair of stripy stockings that make his eyes ache. The scores are a bit lower than the previous week, two sevens and two eights, but they're called safe anyway. 

*

Week Seven proves to be the toughest week so far. They're back to ballroom with the quickstep and Joe soon realises exactly how that dance got its name - it's extremely quick and it has a lot of steps. Which turns out to be a problem because he finds that if he concentrates on remembering the steps too much, his hold goes to hell. When he concentrates on his hold, he gets his feet all muddled up. Not even listening to _Sir Duke_ on constant repeat can lift his spirits and there's a lot of throwing his hands up to the ceiling in frustration. Caitlin's not exactly suffering from an over abundance of patience either, none of the pros are, because they're all well aware - and if they're not, the questions on _It Takes Two_ and for the VTs remind them, that Week Eight is Blackpool Week and the one place everyone wants to be that night is on the dance floor of the Tower Ballroom, not sitting in the audience. 

They get through the week, somehow, and even manage to make it through Friday's rehearsals at television centre. But as he lies in bed that night, trying to sleep, Joe finds himself running the week's training over in his mind and before he's even aware of what he's doing, he's sitting up in bed, snapping on the bedside light and picking up his phone. 

"You should be asleep." Caitlin's voice sounds as tired as he feels but it's not sleepy in the least so he doesn't think he's woken her up. Besides, she'd answered on the second ring. 

"Back at you," he says and there's a sigh on the other end of line. "I just... it's been a bad week. I just wanted to make sure you were OK. That we were OK." 

"There are always bad weeks on this show," she tells him and he can hear the smile in her voice. "I'm actually amazed we got to Week Seven without having one." 

He chuckles. "You never told me that." 

"I was hoping we might get away with it." She sounds almost wistful. "Stupid." 

"Hey." It comes out harsher than he means it to and he modulates his voice a little before continuing, "No-one talks about my partner like that." 

"Yes, Sir." He can picture her tossing off a salute somehow, and the image makes him smile. 

"Hey, is that the first time I've given you an order you haven't fought me on?" 

"Don't get used to it." 

"Yes, Ma'am." He yawns and glances at the clock. "I'll see you at the studios tomorrow." 

"See you then." There's a long pause and he waits to see if she'll fill it with words. Instead he hears another sigh, quieter this time. "Goodnight, Joe." 

"Night, Caitlin." 

He hangs up the phone and falls asleep in minutes. 

The next day, things are back to normal between him and Caitlin. They have a good dress rehearsal which actually makes her more nervous and when she finds him practising his steps in their corridor, her hands are clammy when she holds his. The dance goes as well as can be expected and they score a row of sevens which, Joe knows, might not be enough at this stage of the competition when they're in the dangerous middle ground again. The results show is officially the most nervous he's ever been and they are one of the last two couples standing, waiting to be told if they're in the dance off. He's mentally running through their steps and his holds, Caitlin's got his hand in a vice like grip and then the other couple's name is called. Joe blinks in surprise and Caitlin sags against him in utter relief. He does the only thing he can think of, the only thing that feels right, which is to bury his face in her neck and hold her tight, barely able to lift his head to thank the voting public. Caitlin holds him just as tightly and when they make their way backstage, she steps away from him, puts her hand over her heart. "I need a moment," she whispers and he nods, putting his hands on her shoulders, shielding her with his body from the sight of the other dancers and backstage crew while she pulls herself together. 

It's not much but it's the best he can do. 

*

Sunday is a well earned day of rest, where he doesn't think of dancing, doesn't even look back at last night's recording of the show. He sleeps late, considers going to sight see in London but then thinks better of it. Instead he sacks out on the couch with Netflix and all the food Iris and Caitlin don't like him eating, Skypes with Iris and Barry in the evening before having a long bath and an early night and he feels like a new man on Monday morning. 

He doesn't know what Caitlin got up to on her day off but she's already at the studio when he gets there. There's a warm smile on her face that only gets warmer when she sees him carrying two cups of coffee and a bag that smells of fresh pastry. "So, what's in store for the week?" he asks, expecting something in the Latin family, so he's surprised by her answer. 

"Viennese Waltz," she tells him and he blinks. 

"Ballroom again?" He thinks back over the last few weeks, all the routines he's seen. "That's the one with all the spinning, right?" 

Caitlin's eyes are gleaming. "In Blackpool... it's going to be amazing." She's never been this enthusiastic about a dance, not even their salsa. "And this is what we're waltzing to..."

She presses a button on her iPod and the familiar strains of Billy Joel's _Piano Man_ drift out from the speakers. Joe stares at Caitlin, mouth dropping open slightly as he remembers some of their conversations about music choices. The gleam in her eyes suddenly makes perfect sense to him and he can't help himself, he bursts into giggles. 

She follows suit and they laugh non-stop for the next five minutes, and every time one of them stops, the second they make eye contact with the other, they're off again. The poor camera operators don't seem to know what to make of it and Joe and Caitlin aren't inclined to explain. 

Joe will be the first to admit that he initially didn't understand why everyone was so all het up about Blackpool. That lasts until the first moment that he steps foot into the Tower Ballroom. The Strictly studios have obviously been modelled on it but the real thing actually takes his breath away. The high ceilings, the ornate decorations everywhere he looks, the extra spring to the floor... It's really something. Caitlin's eyes are huge, her face awestruck like a kid at Christmas and he stands behind her with his hands on her shoulders, the two of them taking it all in. She covers his hands with hers and glances back up at him and he smiles down at her, finds himself thinking how beautiful she looks. Suddenly very aware of the cameras capturing the moment for Saturday night's VT, he makes himself look away, back at the ballroom. "OK," he tells her. "You were right." 

Cameras or no cameras, she leans back against him, lets him support her weight. "This," she says with conviction, "is going to be a good week." 

Turns out she's not wrong. 

He's back in his tails, while Vicky and her team put Caitlin in a cream and lemon number that nips in at her tiny waist before flaring out in a full skirt that ends just below her knees. The first time he twirls her in it, he swears it lends a little bit more force to her turns and he makes a note to be careful on the floor. There are goosebumps on her arms when she takes his hands for their opening pose and when she looks up at him, he steps on her line and he doesn't feel a bit guilty about it. 

"You and me," he tells her. "Just like rehearsal." 

She lightly drapes her hand on his shoulder and her smile is brighter than the lights in the ceiling, and there are a thousand people in the audience but once the band starts up, it might as well be just the two of them. He's actually disappointed when the music ends because he thinks he could dance like this, with her, forever and Caitlin barely holds her face steady on the ending pose before her smile - her real smile, not her dancing smile - breaks through. He's on one knee in front of her, holding her outstretched hand in both of his and when the audience roars its approval, it's the most natural thing in the world to bring her knuckles to his lips before he stands up. 

On the judges' table, Len speaks first and when he starts off with, "Well, I'll tell you what, Joe, you've certainly got me feeling all right after a waltz like that!" Joe knows they're in for a good score. Len goes on to praise his natural and reverse turns and raves about the fleckerl that Caitlin insisted on putting in, while Bruno calls the whole performance charming, enchanting and simply magical. Even Craig can't find a whole lot to criticise, actually goes out of his way to praise one particular step that had almost driven Joe to distraction all week. Caitlin's fingers pinch at his side on that one and he nods at her, hoping she knows that he means, yes, you told me so. Darcey, meanwhile, seems close to tears when she's giving her thoughts, mentioning the connection and emotion between them. Joe's hoping that means they might get a much coveted nine from her, but he's disappointed on that one. 

She lifts a ten instead and the dancers behind them go crazy. 

Caitlin's face is buried in his neck, her shoulders shaking and Joe barely registers the next two scores. Claudia tells him that with two nines from Len and Bruno, combined with Craig's eight, they're currently at the top of the leader board on thirty-six points. 

"Delighted," he says when she asks for his reaction. "Not just with the scores, but the crowd, the dance, this woman here... I couldn't ask for more." 

*

Instead of their normal, relaxing Sunday free, much of the day is spent on the Strictly Blackpool bus, some seven hours of a drive down the M6 motorway. It's not quite as raucous as it was on the way up, because they'd all been out partying the night before, an even crazier version of the wildest party you could ever imagine. Copious amounts of alcohol had been consumed until the wee small hours of the morning so most people use the long journey as an excuse to catch up on some shut eye. Joe's good at sleeping on buses - years of practice - but this one isn't as comfortable as his customised tour bus. He makes the best of it though and when he wakes up at one rest stop to find Caitlin dozing with her head on his shoulder, he doesn't move a muscle for fear of waking her. The others don't entirely share his worries if the amount of, "Isn't that sweet?" comments are anything to go by and Cisco even snaps a picture of the two of them, Caitlin out like a light and Joe tilting his head down towards, both eyebrows raised and a comical expression on his face. When she stirs, he doesn't tell her about the picture though, because he kinda doesn't want to be there when she finds out about it. 

He also doesn't tell her that he thinks she looks adorable as she wipes the sleep out of her eyes and stretches. In fact, he chases that thought out of his head as quickly as he can. 

He might sleep on the bus but he knows it's not the same as a quality eight hours in a proper bed. Which is why, even though he goes to bed early on Sunday night and tries to catch up on his sleep, he's still tired on Monday morning. He's not twenty something anymore, can't recover like he used to and standing in the shower that morning, he feels every one of his years. Reaching the studio, he notices that Caitlin's wearing a bit more makeup than she normally does and two minutes of conversation with her clue him in to the fact that he's not the only one who's fatigued. 

They have the Paso Doble that week and he's picked up enough to know that it's all about shaping and attitude, that he's really going to have to act the part out. "No smiling this week," Caitlin tells him as she sips the coffee he'd brought for her. 

"You always make me smile." The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them and she looks down and blushes. 

"Then imagine the worst boyfriend Iris ever had asking for her hand in marriage instead of Barry," she suggests. "There must be one..."

As a matter of fact, there had been a certain chucklehead in college that Joe couldn't stand, a mercifully short lived relationship before she and Barry accepted what he'd known since they were eleven years old. Even the idea of the memory has him making a face and she laughs delightedly. "There we go! Do that." 

He's not sure what he's doing but he'll give it a try. 

They're into their fourth hour of training, heading for lunch and he's nearly ready to start counting down the minutes because lack of sleep is getting to him. Even Caitlin's arms are drooping where they never usually would. They decide to go for one last run through before lunch and that, Joe will later think, is where the mistake was made. 

It's not the first time he gets tangled over his feet and falls over. 

It's not the first time that he falls over and pulls Caitlin down with him. 

It is the first time she doesn't bounce straight up like she's got springs in the soles of her shoes. 

It's definitely the first time that she lets out a hiss of pain and clutches her ankle. 

"You ok?" he asks her but he doesn't need her to reply in words. Not when the little shake of her head, her lips pressed tightly together, her suddenly bloodless cheeks, are answer enough. "Can you stand?" is his next question and he helps her up, one arm around her waist, one hand holding her arm. She tries to put weight on her leg, collapses against him instantly with a little cry of pain that breaks his heart in two. Swinging her up into his arms, he carries her over to a chair, calling out to someone for an ice pack and he's already taken off Caitlin's dance shoe when one appears over his shoulder. 

"Thanks," he says, glancing back and it's one of the camera operators, who he's never before seen leave his post. 

That's when the hairs rise on the back of his neck. 

Caitlin winces when the ice pack hits her ankle and Joe stays kneeling in front of her, holds it in place. "I don't know what happened," he says quietly to her. "Caitlin, I'm so sorry." 

"It's not your fault." Except it absolutely is, no matter what she says. There are tears in her eyes and she drops her voice to whisper, "It really hurts." 

His stomach dropping, he lifts the ice pack carefully and takes a look. Only for a second but it's enough to tell him that her ankle has already ballooned to twice its usual size and he knows there's only one thing for it. 

Lunch has to wait in favour of a taxi ride to the nearest emergency room. Joe keeps his arm around Caitlin the whole way, all but lifts her out of the taxi and into the hospital and it seems like they have to wait for hours before someone comes to see them. Joe makes a phone call and a producer and a camera guy with a tiny hand-held machine arrive a little later, the producer's face growing more and more serious as she looks at Caitlin and hears the story. She doesn't stick around to actually see the doctor with them and when the camera guy tries to come in with them, Joe refuses to let him, surprised by the flash of anger he feels at a man who is, after all, only doing his job. 

"I'll do a piece to camera when we come out," he promises. "Pretend that we're still waiting and we haven't seen anyone yet." He moves the man away from Caitlin. "She's hanging by a thread, man, help us out here." 

The guy looks at Caitlin, then back at Joe and drops the camera to his side. 

It's a small victory, but Joe will take what he can get. 

Especially when the doctor sends Caitlin for an x-ray, then MRI, which makes the fake VT a lot more real, and when Caitlin is wheeled back to them, Joe's heart sinks again when he sees her crying softly. "What?" he asks, kneeling beside the wheelchair and taking her hand. 

"A bad sprain, they say." He heaves a sigh of relief, one that's cut short when she says, "I have to stay off it for the next week." A fresh sheen of tears fills her eyes. "I can't dance on Saturday." 

He says a very bad word that means the BBC will never, ever air this piece of footage if they're recording it and pulls her into a hug. 

It's past dinner time by the time they leave the hospital and he insists on taking her home, making sure she gets back ok. They're both starving by the time they get there so she dials the local Chinese takeaway and they eat in near silence on her couch, watching _It Takes Two_ and they're both grateful when there's no word of her injury. 

When the show is over and the Chinese cartons are either binned or refrigerated, she glances over at him. "You should head home," she says. "Try to get some sleep." 

He chuckles with no real humour. "I'm not so sure that's gonna happen."

Her smile is wan. "Me too."

"What do we do? Tomorrow, I mean." 

Caitlin shrugs. "We turn up to rehearsal as usual. They'll get one of the troupe dancers to dance with you this week, I'll sit in to teach her my choreography." The idea of dancing with anyone else but Caitlin just seems wrong to him and she doesn't seem too enthused about the idea either. "We'll probably get bumped up on Zoe's schedule as well... we should probably think about what we're going to say..." She wipes at her eyes. "I really need to stop crying. The cameras will have a field day." 

"Get it all out," he says, pulling her into a hug. "No cameras here." 

He rests his cheek on top of her head as she takes him at his word. 

The next day passes exactly as Caitlin had predicted. There's a friendly redhead called Marina in the room with her when he gets there, warming up on dance floor while Caitlin sits on a chair beside the iPod dock. "You sleep?" he asks and she wrinkles her nose as she shakes her head. "Yeah," he says, "me neither." He glances over his shoulder. "I'll try not to break this one." 

Caitlin rolls her eyes but he thinks he sees the glimmer of a smile there too. 

It's a strange day, being a team of three instead of two, and Joe feels like he's only getting used to doing the steps, dancing them with a different partner when it's time to stop. They have to finish early because, as Caitlin predicted, they've been swapped from Thursday's _It Takes Two_ to tonight's and they both know exactly what they're going to be asked about. Joe heads back to his apartment and puts on his favourite suit and tie, even wears the cuff links that Iris gave him as a gift on her wedding day, and when he gets to the studio, Caitlin is wearing a dress that looks like it was made just for her, royal blue with a black belt cinched tight across her waist. The crutches ruin the effect a little and she puts them down behind the backstage couch out of sight, which is fine with him. 

They wave to the camera with huge fake smiles for the introduction bit and Zoe introduces them as the first guests, which thrills Joe because he just wants to get this over with. From the tension he can see in Caitlin's shoulders, she feels the same. Of course, getting from backstage to the actual sofa calls for a walk across the studio and Caitlin is reaching for her crutches when Joe says, "Forget it," and scoops her up, carrying her across to Zoe. 

He sets her down gently, makes sure she's ok where she is, then takes his place to her left. It's unusual because they all know the rule, celebrities go on the right, professionals to their left. He doesn't care about that, not today, figures that if Caitlin gets too upset he can lean in front of at least one camera and accidentally on purpose mess up their shot. 

Zoe's eyes are huge with sympathy as she reaches across and touches Caitlin's non-injured leg. "Take your time," she says. "I won't start until you're ready... let's make the editors earn their money, shall we?" It's a sincere, low-key gesture from the normally extroverted and loud host. Joe has never loved her more. 

A moment later, Caitlin nods. "Ready." 

Zoe nods to the camera then springs into presenter mode, announcing their names once more and getting everyone to applaud them. Which they do, loudly, like they want to show their support. When the noise dies down, Zoe speaks directly to them. "Now, can I put it to you," she says, leaning forwards, elbows on her knees, hands joined, "that you two have had a bit of a day?" 

Joe thinks it might be a rhetorical question but he answers anyway. "One way of putting it." 

Zoe looks to the camera. "For those of you who aren't aware, who haven't been on the internet so far today, this is what happened." She looks at Caitlin, slides a box of tissues - covered in glitter, naturally - across the table to her. "I think you might need these." 

On the screen on the other side of the studio, they see a package start to play, a two shot of them on the couch in real time inset in the bottom right hand corner. Which means Joe sees, as well as feels, Caitlin lean into him. "I don't think I can watch this," she mutters, averting her gaze and he slides his right arm across her back while his left hand closes around the fingers of her left hand, tiny and cold against his skin. 

She might not want to watch but he can't look away, sees as if in slow motion their legs tangling together - and he still can't see the mis-step, see how it happened - but he sees them go down, hears a gasp of pain that he missed yesterday. The camera zooms in on Caitlin's face, on her clutching her injured ankle, then there's a cut to him carrying her to the chair, then another cut to him holding the ice pack on her ankle, to him lifting it off and looking underneath. 

He remembers what it looked like, knows that he said something about getting it checked out but he can't remember what the exact words were. He doesn't have to though, because the recording and the mic packs don't lie and he hears his own voice, clear as crystal, coming across the studio. 

"Sweetheart, this doesn't look good... We need to get this looked at." 

He blinks at the term of endearment and for a moment, Caitlin seems to forget to breathe. 

Zoe narrows her eyes but says nothing. 

Then there's a shot of him helping her into the hospital, the little bit to camera that he did while she was off being scanned. A shot of her crying in the wheelchair as he kneels beside her, and one of the two of them side by side before leaving the hospital, with Joe saying that they've been told that she can't dance this weekend. 

Then there's a wide studio shot before Zoe's face appears on screen. "So, quite the drama. What, if any update do you have for us?"

One look at Caitlin and Joe knows she's in no shape to answer any questions. Her eyes are filled with tears and she's only barely keeping them back. His hand makes circles on her back and his fingers tighten on hers as he says, "Well, Caitlin, as you saw, can't dance this week. So we spent this morning training with the lovely Marina, who's going to fill in for her." As he speaks, a shot of him and Marina side by side flashes up, Caitlin on crutches in the background putting them through their paces. 

"And how is that going?" 

Joe inclines his head, bites back his first response. "We haven't had much time yet," he says diplomatically. "We're heading back there later on, after this, trying to pick up a few more of the steps."

"It must be difficult to try to do all this with a new partner, I mean I can't even imagine..."

"That's it." Zoe doesn't seem to mind that he interrupted her. "I think all of the celebrities know, you know from your time on the show, you get used to dancing with one person. You get your little shorthand going, little cues you pick up on with one another... Half the time, if my hand is wrong, Caitlin's still able to grab it because she can guess where it's going to go... and not having that this morning... it was a little weird. And I mean no disrespect to Marina, who is a great dancer, when I say that..."

"Of course not," Zoe agrees. "And what is the prognosis, Caitlin?"

With a direct question, Caitlin has no choice but to answer. "It's a bad sprain," she says quietly. "All going well, I'll be able to resume training at the end of the week." 

"A little bird did tell me you want to dance, despite doctor's advice?"

Joe narrows his eyes as he glances at Caitlin, but he bites his tongue. "I was having a hard time seeing Joe dance with someone else," she admits. "All I wanted to do was get back out there."

"But the main thing is we don't want to rush things," Joe interjects. "Because at the end of the day, we're talking about her career here, and one dance isn't worth her possibly hurting herself more."

Zoe lifts one eyebrow. "Looks like Caitlin disagrees with you there, Joe." 

"That's fine." Joe waggles his head from side to side. "Wouldn't be the first time. I just don't want her to hurt herself any more because of me." He meets Caitlin's gaze. "Cisco's been going on for the last two weeks about the Argentine tango he's choreographed for the two of you for a results show, you think I want to miss seeing that?" 

He's teasing her and it makes her smile and yet her eyes fill up at the same time . She looks upwards and blinks back the tears as he squeezes her fingers again. Across the table, Zoe gives an exaggerated little sob, reaches for the tissues. "I need one of these," she declares, mopping at her eyes. "Caitlin, I don't think, in all my years doing this, that I've ever seen you so emotional."

Caitlin looks at her, swallows hard and blows out a deep breath. "I've been so lucky with all my partners," she says. "I really have enjoyed working with them all. But something about this year, the way we get along, the way we work... We've been having such a great time, so much fun and I think this has been my favourite year on the show. I mean, Blackpool..." Her voice trails off and a tear escapes, makes its way slowly down her cheek. "And the idea than it could all be over because of one silly fall..." She has to stop then, her lips pressed together in a thin, bloodless line and Joe takes over. 

"So my job, this week, is to train as hard with Marina as I can, and hopefully wow the judges enough, and the public enough, that we get back next week and show people what we can do." He squeezes Caitlin's shoulder. "I'm not ready to say goodbye to Team JoeLin just yet either." 

There's another of those exaggerated sobs from Zoe. "Team JoeLin, ladies and gentlemen," she declares with a flourish, her way of bringing the interview to an end. The crew and other watchers applaud and whoop on cue and Joe doesn't know if Caitlin leans into him or he pulls her across but her head lands on his shoulder and he turns towards her, brushes his lips over her hair as her right arm slides across his chest. 

The camera cuts across to Zoe who, very kindly in Joe's view, gives them a minute to pull themselves together before she hugs them both then goes off to talk to Karen Hardy about the Saturday night choreography. Joe helps Caitlin stand, carries her back to the other couch and her crutches, gets her a glass of water before they head back to the rehearsal space to meet Marina once again. 

They train for a couple of hours, grab a quick bite to eat before they train for a bit more and then the three of them head home, the BBC being generous with transportation all of a sudden. Joe's had his phone turned off for most of the day, turns it back on when he gets home and that's when he finds out that _It Takes Two_ went off the air an hour ago and in that hour, social media has, for want of a nicer phrase, lost its collective shit. 

The "sweetheart" line caused much consternation - well, he'd known it was going to. There were several tweets along the lines of "Sweetheart? He just called her Sweetheart!" and he had the sudden thought that if the people who picked their music were reading these, they might end up with a sudden change of song to "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" sometime in the near future. There were other tweets praising how caring he'd been towards Caitlin, which surprised him because he didn't think he'd done anything particularly special. Someone had freeze-framed the shot from _It Takes Two_ of him hugging Caitlin and kissing the top of her head at the end of the interview, and they'd put it beside another screen shot, this time of him looking down at Caitlin as she was speaking and struggling not to cry. The caption was, "Life goals. Find a man to look at me the way Joe looks at Caitlin right here."

He's not going to lie, he looks at those images for a long time. 

More surprising than those tweets though, are the ones that reference Caitlin only. "OMG, I have never seen Caitlin cry like that before," says one. "The Snow Queen is melting!" says another, rapidly followed by, "Who knew she had a heart?" One of the replies to that - and he's getting good at Twitter, that he knows to click for replies - says, "If I thought I couldn't dance with Joe West any more, I'd cry too!" 

He frowns, thinks of the Caitlin he knows. The one who laughs at his jokes all the time, the one who makes him laugh just as hard. The fun they've had in rehearsals, right from day one. Snow Queen? Really? 

His phone chimes with a text message then. Iris, one word. "Skype?" 

He presses the buttons he needs to press and her face is on his screen seconds later, fuzzy at first before snapping into focus. She's frowning, her face worried. "Dad! How is Caitlin? How are you?" 

He sighs. He'd texted her from the hospital yesterday but hadn't had a chance to call her and he has a feeling she's already heard a lot from social media. "She's doing ok. Bad sprain, she'll be back next week." He shifts in his seat as her pale face floats across his mind's eye. "She's tough. She'll be ok." 

Iris lifts one eyebrow. "How are you?" 

"Worried about her, worried about Saturday..." He grimaced. "The usual." 

"You'll get there." Iris doesn't sound like she has a doubt in the world. "And from what I see, the Team JoeLin fans are mobilising pretty hard..." Her grin is teasing along with her tone and he chuckles. 

"I was just reading some of that, actually. It's nice." 

Iris makes a noise at the back of her throat. "I saw some of the stuff about Zoe's show." Framed as a statement, he nonetheless hears a question there. 

"You got something you want to ask me, baby girl?"

Iris's gaze flicks offscreen, probably to Barry, and he knows that she's weighing up her words, deciding how much she really wants to say. "Dad, is there something going on with you two?" 

He shakes his head but he remembers the feel of her in his arms as he carried her to the chair yesterday, how she'd cried into his shoulder, leaning on him, trusting him completely. He remembers the way she smiles at him when they dance, the way she laughs, the sound of his own voice calling her sweetheart. "Nothing's happened between us," he answers even if he's aware that, the way he's feeling right now, that's only a matter of semantics. 

Iris knows it too, skewers him with a look. "That's not what I asked, Dad." 

He sighs, heavier than he's ever sighed in a very long time. "Yeah," he whispers. "I know." 

Iris changes the subject then and they chat for a while longer and she tells him before she goes that she's going to call Caitlin herself, check in to see how she is. Which she does, because Caitlin tells him so the next morning before he throws himself into another day of dancing with Marina while Caitlin looks on and he tries not to feel like he's cheating on her but he can't help it. 

The week limps along, no pun intended, and by Saturday night, Caitlin's off the crutches and if he knows anything about her, champing at the bit to get out on the dance floor. She's backstage with the rest of them, looking strangely understated in a little black dress and flat shoes, hair left loose and flowing across her shoulders. She still manages to find him in their corridor, gives him an appreciative once over as she takes in the trousers with gold brocade down the outside seam of each leg, the matador jacket which, for reasons passing understanding, they've neglected to put a shirt underneath, exposing far more of his chest and torso than he ever wanted anyone to see. 

"Strike a pose." She's holding up her phone. "Iris wants to see this." 

He does what he's told, not without grumbling. "You two still ganging up on me?" Her eyes gleam as she taps on her phone but when she looks back up at him, that gleam fades. "Hey," he says, "don't do this." 

She looks to the ceiling, shakes her head. "I just hate this. I should be out there." 

"You will." He pulls her into a hug and the flat shoes render her a couple of inches shorter than she usually is, means that her cheek rests snugly against his chest, just over his heart. Her hands go around his waist, the one that's not holding her phone moving up a little underneath the matador jacket and he feels as well as hears her sigh. "Next week, this is just a bad dream. I promise." 

Her shoulders tremble and he tightens his grip, rests his cheek on the top of her head and closes his eyes. 

There's a flash of light behind his eyelids and he knows someone somewhere has just snapped a picture of the two of them. 

He doesn't move. 

It feels strange to be on the dance floor without Caitlin and his usual mantra before the music starts changes. Instead of "This is for Iris," he thinks, "This is for Caitlin," and he acts his way through the traditional Spanish themed music like he never has before. The audience applaud, he thinks more in appreciation of the week they've had than the actual performance and when he's standing in front of Tess, he looks up at the Clauditorium, sees Caitlin front and centre at the balcony, hands still clapping as tears roll down her cheeks. He blows her a kiss and Tess actually almost swoons. 

The comments pass by in a blur and the next thing he knows they're up in the Clauditorium and he's very aware that Caitlin is hanging back as Claudia talks to him and Marina. He's not surprised by that, because she'd said that she would - "That's your moment, yours and hers, not mine," had been her exact words. "How hard was this week?" Claudia asks him before adding, in what must be the understatement of the century, "Because looking at that VT..."

"It's been tough," Joe says honestly. "Marina has been amazingly patient with me and she's done a hell of a job, dragging me through this dance... but it's been hard, Caitlin not being able to take part." 

As he talks, he's dimly aware of shuffling behind him and the next thing he knows, Claudia is shoved aside as Cisco and one of the other dancers deposit Caitlin in between Joe and Claudia. Caitlin's face shows the tracks of her tears and her eyes are rimmed in red. "I have to tell you," Claudia says, recovering quickly, "that Caitlin's carefully maintained ice queen reputation is quite simply in tatters. She was bawling up here, watching you two." 

Joe slides an arm around Caitlin's waist, keeping his other one around Marina's. "All I wanted this week was to do a good job so we can get back here next week." The idea that they might not, that this could be his last dance on the show brings a sudden lump to his throat, makes his voice husky. "The last thing I wanted to do was let Caitlin down."

There's a cacophony of "no's!" from the crowd behind him and beside him, Caitlin shakes her head. "You couldn't," she says, looking up at him and the "no's" give way to a chorus of "ah's". The scores are muted but Joe thinks deserved, solid sevens all the way and it's an anxious wait for him at the top of the stairs. The producers, in their unusual mercy, call him and Marina safe first and his shout of "Yes!" is the loudest it's ever been. 

Caitlin is the first person he looks for when he comes off the stage. She's obviously looking for him too and it's all very _Officer and a Gentleman_ when they meet one another halfway and she wraps her arms around his neck while he lifts her off her feet and holds her for a long, long time. 

*


	4. Chapter 4

It's nice to be back to normal on the Monday morning when he walks into the rehearsal room. Just him and Caitlin, two coffees and a bag of fresh pastries in his hands. They sit down for a chat first, no cameras, just them for once and he eyes her ankle carefully as she sits on the table, swinging her legs back and forth. "We have samba this week," he says and he's been worrying about that all day Sunday because he knows enough to know that the samba is both fast and bouncy, which in his opinion is not the best combination of steps for a freshly healed ankle. "You gonna be ok?"

Caitlin smiles. "They've changed our dance. Possibly because of my injury." She emphasises the word "possibly" and he wonders why, until she adds, "We're doing the rumba now. Slower, more steps and walks, easier on my ankle."

"The rumba." He rolls the words around in his mouth, doesn't add that it's the dance of love. He's read the social media stuff since _It Takes Two_ and the weekend's shows. He thinks the ankle played absolutely no part in the decision to change dances. 

"It's a harder dance for the man," Caitlin tells him as she raises her cup to her lips. "Hard to get a high score in." 

Joe wrinkles his nose. "Doesn't sound good." 

"They also asked me to change our music." 

She looks like she's trying not to laugh and Joe jumps to the only conclusion he can. He's glad the cameras aren't around when he says, "I'm guessing that 'asked' isn't exactly the right word?" 

"I think you'll like it though." She presses a button on her iPod and the strains of a piano fill the air, a set of notes that Joe is extremely familiar with. 

"That's-" He points at the speakers. 

"Yes." His singing voice fills the room and her cheeks flush. 

"So they want us to rumba to _Lady of my Heart_?" He can almost hear the Internet exploding. 

Caitlin says nothing, just nods, places her cup down on the table between them. Her knuckles curl over the edge of the table and she meets his gaze, lifting both eyebrows high. He looks down at her right hand, so close to his, and gives into temptation, lays his hand on top of hers and leaves it there. When he glances back to her face, she's looking at him too, her eyes dark and serious. 

The moment stretches, lingers.

"OK," Joe says eventually. "Let's get started." 

There are, Caitlin explains to him, two different kinds of rumba. One is the raunchy kind that Craig describes as, "Pure filth and I love it." The other is the sweet and gently romantic kind, the kind Len prefers. With the song they have, she says, they're going the latter route. "We'll tell the story of the song," she says. "It's the end of the night, you've just finished your set, that's when you see me standing across the room." 

He doesn't like the sound of that. "You mean I'm starting on my own?" He much prefers starting in hold, less taxing on his nerves. 

At least, that's what he tells himself.

"For the story." She doesn't sound worried. "We meet in the middle of the floor..." She's sketching out steps across the room as she talks, gestures to him to stand in the middle of the room. "You romance me a little..." She crosses one leg in front of the other, spins neatly so that her back is to his chest and drapes herself against him. His right hand automatically drops to her right hip while his left hand moves around her waist and her right hand closes over his left as she slides, with a little wiggle, down his body. When she rises up, she executes another of those little spins, presses her chest against his and lays her hands on his chest, looks up at him with wide eyes. 

His heart is beating a little faster than usual and he makes his head nod. "Like that?" 

She nods and she seems a little breathless too. "Good." 

They spend the week working on the moves, developing the story. She tells him that less is more so many times he considers getting it printed on a set of matching t-shirts, but when Ian Waite does his Wednesday warmup on _It Takes Two_ where he critiques the couples' training progress, he's full of praise for them which Joe takes to mean that they're on the right track. The Internet, once the song choice is released, predictably goes bananas, with the YouTube views of the music video for the song trebling overnight. 

If he's told once this week, he's told a hundred times that the rumba is the hardest dance for the male celebrity but Joe honestly doesn't think of it that way. The story they have helps him and after the disaster of the previous week, he's just enjoying dancing with Caitlin again. He says as much on Zoe's show and she follows it up with, "Worst case scenario, if Caitlin hadn't been able to come back, how would you have found dancing this with Marina?"

It's a loaded question, Joe knows, but he doesn't have to think about his answer. "I wouldn't be," he says simply and Zoe's jaw drops, like she hadn't been expecting that answer. "I think Marina is great," Joe continues. "But Caitlin is my partner." He's holding her hand and he lifts their joined hands up in illustration. "We started this together and it wouldn't feel right, to me, to finish it with anyone but her." The crew gathered around make the appropriate oohs and ahs and Caitlin leans into him, presses her cheek against his shoulder, closes her eyes for a second. 

That one gets screen capped on Twitter too. 

Show night finds him once again in their spot, their corridor, slightly conservatively clad in black trousers and a plain white shirt, not a sparkle in sight and barely a button either. He knows that Caitlin is on her way when a camera appears beside him and he turns to see her coming towards him, her hair pulled into a low sleek ponytail, her dress the same material as his shirt, clinging to her every curve. One shoulder is left bare and the skirt is cut asymmetrically, high on one hip and swishing down to just below her knee on the other side. 

He wants to say something, anything, but he's speechless. 

Maybe she sees that. Maybe she's similarly afflicted because she holds up her two hands for a high five and that he can respond to. 

And if he catches her hands in mid-air, holds them while he brings them down between them, well, it looks good for the camera. 

The prop-masters do their thing, setting the dance floor up like the stage of a club, even going to far as to wheel on a piano. Joe starts the dance just as they planned, leaning against the piano until he catches sight of Caitlin coming in from just beside Craig's chair. She walks towards him with deliberate intent and he moves towards her in a series of turns that go off without a hitch. He stops just short of her, holds out his hand and she turns and goes into the drop move, the one they first came up with when they started sketching out the routine. It draws applause from the crowd but Joe barely hears it. All his attention is on Caitlin and the story they are telling as they dance, two people finding each other and falling in love. When they finish, when the last note of the music fades, they are standing face to face, chest to chest, so close that a sheet of paper could barely fit between them. Their foreheads are touching, his lips a breath away from hers as his hands cup her face and they have practised this moment a hundred times but it's never felt like this. 

They hold the pose for a long moment until the absolute roar of the audience, including stamping of feet, breaks the spell. He drops his hands slowly, lets them fall to his side and she wraps her arms around his waist, buries her face in his chest. He feels her tremble in his arms, rubs her back and when she steps back so that they can go over to Tess and the judges, he takes her by the hand, holds their joined hands up high and gestures to her with the other, encouraging the audience to cheer louder for her. 

They don't need much encouraging. 

He kisses Tess on the cheek when he reaches her and she gives Caitlin a hug and an audible, "Welcome back." That is probably scripted but her look when she reaches for Caitlin's hand, the obvious surprise when she says, "You're shaking, you poor thing, are you all right, my darling?" can't be. 

Caitlin's having real trouble catching her breath and one look tells Joe that she's hanging on to her composure by a very thin thread indeed. Her smile is fixed in place and she shoots him a look that fairly screams, "Help me." 

Which, hey, that's what partners are for, right?

"We're just glad to be back," he says, which is first and foremost an honest answer and, secondly and perhaps most importantly, it gives Tess a hook on which to hang her next comment. 

"And we're delighted to have you both back, aren't we everybody?" She gestures to the audience who applaud obediently but she keeps a firm grip on Caitlin's hand. "Darcey, you certainly look delighted." 

There's a huge smile on Darcey's face but when she speaks, her voice is breathless and Joe realises that Caitlin is not the only one who's near to tears. "Joe," she says, "for someone who's never trained as an actor, I thought the storytelling there was just..." She stops, shakes her head, swallows hard. "Spellbinding," is the word she finally settles on. "You absolutely sold every beat of that number, I couldn't look away. It was..." Another pause. "Very, very special." 

They move to Len next. "Well, Joe, when I first saw you standing there at the piano, I thought you'd forgotten where you were and you were going to sit down there and give us a tune." That gets a laugh. "I thought there was going to be a lot of faffing around and I wasn't going to like it, but wham bam, thank you ma'am, you see Caitlin and what do we get? We get rumba walks, we get fanning out, we get New Yorkers, we get spot turns..." He points at Caitlin. "You threw everything but the kitchen sink at him and he didn't miss a beat, it was fantastic." Caitlin's cheeks are flushed by the time he finishes and Joe grins down at her. 

Joe hopes they'll go to Craig next because Bruno is looking at that two of them with his hands propped on his chin and his eyes dancing and it's always nice to end on some positive remarks, rather than Craig who could say anything. But it's Bruno who gets called on third and he begins by all but batting his eyelashes at Joe. "Oh, Joe, we can all see who the lady of your heart is." He's teasing and the crowd lap it up and Joe decides the safest thing to do is just pull Caitlin a little closer. Her body presses against him and she lets her head fall to his shoulder which only makes Bruno nod wisely. "A tender story of longing and romance; my darling, I was utterly captivated. Beautiful." 

And then there is Craig who is staring at them with a perfectly straight, some might say distinctly unimpressed looking face. Joe's fingers curl a little tighter, more protectively, over Caitlin's hip as he waits for the judge to speak, and he feels himself tense when Craig directs his first remarks not to him, but to Caitlin. "Caitlin, that choreography, the story you two told with that music, was absolutely fab-u-lous!" His rarely used catchphrase sets the room on fire and Caitlin breathes out a huge sigh of relief as Joe pulls her into a hug that wrenches her hand from Tess's. When he sets her back on her feet again, Craig is actually smiling. "Good mix of content and emotion, you acted out the story, Joe, we could see your emotions on your face, I loved it!" 

Tess sends them running upstairs to Claudia before he can change his mind. 

"I have to tell you," Claudia begins, "that everyone up here went completely crackers when you were finished." The noise that they're all making certainly bears that out. "How did you enjoy that?"

Joe doesn't have to think twice about his answer. "I've said all along, if Caitlin's happy, then I'm happy." 

Caitlin doesn't wait for Claudia to ask her the obvious question. "I'm happy," she says and everyone laughs. 

"You've already got one ten, from Darcey, in Blackpool," Claudia reminds them. "How much would it mean to you to get another after the couple of weeks you've had?" 

Caitlin stiffens almost imperceptibly, her nails scraping along his skin through his shirt. "We wouldn't say no," Joe tells Claudia, which the other dancers seem to find funny. "But this week, it really was all about the two of us, back together, celebrating that. And to dance it as well as we did, to get those comments, anything else is just icing on the cake."

Claudia turns to the camera, a funny smile hovering around the edges of her lips. "Scores are in." 

Craig is up first and he holds up a nine. It's the first time he's given them a mark that high - Joe has often wondered if he actually has a ten paddle or if it's just a myth - and Caitlin gasps a little and covers her mouth with her hand as Cisco leads a chorus of boos behind them. 

Darcey is next. "A spellbinding ten!" 

Then Len, who breaks out another of his catchphrases, "From Len... a ten!" 

Bruno keeps them waiting, waggling his eyebrows and waving his paddle from side to side before declaring, "I don't have an eleven, so... ten!" 

There's pandemonium in the Clauditorium and Joe can hardly hear himself think. He hugs Caitlin hard, drops his head onto her shoulder and presses a kiss to the exposed skin there. He feels her shiver in his arms and when he pulls back to look at her, there are more tears in her eyes. She's beaming though and Claudia's voice, her hand on his arm, pulls him back to reality. 

"That's the joint highest scoring male rumba in _Strictly_ history," she tells him and he feels his jaw drop. "And you're top of the leaderboard." 

"Should've been a forty," shouts out one of the male pros, not Cisco, and Joe shoots him a grin over his shoulder. He's not worried about the missing point though - they might be at the top of the leaderboard but it feels like they're on top of the world. 

*


	5. Chapter 5

With the advent of Week Eleven, they're doing two dances, which means less time to get everything perfect and trying to log more hours in training to compensate. Which makes Joe nervous because he has a recurring nightmare about Caitlin getting injured again, which when he tells her about it, Caitlin seems torn between finding it very sweet and very frustrating. "Joe, I'm fine," she tells him over and over again, most of the time with her hand on his forearm, a smile on her lips and steel in her voice. "It's not my first knock, it won't be my last." 

Only once does he let slip what he's thinking and he makes sure he does it when when neither of them are wearing mic packs and the cameras are put away for the day. "I just don't like seeing you in pain," he says, laying his hand on top of hers and her smile turns soft as her cheeks turn pink. 

There's nothing soft, though, about the two dances they are doing. Their first is the Argentine Tango, which happens to be a dance that Caitlin and Cisco are renowned for and Joe knows he's going to suffer by comparison. Cisco, who with his tennis pro partner were voted out the week before Blackpool, comes into the studio to give him some pointers, shows him exactly how to pull off the lifts. He notes that because there's a bit more of a height difference between Joe and Caitlin than between him and Caitlin, it's actually going to be easier for Joe. "That's all relative, Cisco," Joe responds with a smile and Cisco just purses his lips and tells him to move his hand down lower on Caitlin's ass. 

"You need to look like you want to devour her," he says, moving the hand himself, then pushing their lower bodies together. There's a funny grin on his face and a wicked glint in his eye as he looks at Caitlin. "You went soft with the rumba. Now it's time for the raunch." 

With dark lights, the moody blues of _Skyfall_ echoing through the studio, it's easy to get in character. He's wearing a black suit, black shirt, red tie and that echoes Caitlin's outfit, a black lacy affair that clings like a second skin, a thin trim of red edging the skirt. Her eyes are dark, her lips red as the blood that races through his veins as they dance and when they hold their end pose - him standing straight with her in his arms, one of her long legs wrapped around his hip - the world erupts around them. 

The second dance couldn't be more different from the first, a fast and energetic Charleston set to _I've Got Rhythm_. Joe actually enjoys the one much more because it's fun and upbeat and he actually gets to smile in it. During one of their breaks from training when the mics are off and the camera crew are at lunch and Caitlin is in the bathroom, Cisco gives him some extra points on the cross and swivel, adds afterwards, "I'm voting for you two every week, you know." 

Joe lifts an eyebrow. "Is that even allowed?" 

"Hey, it's not like I voted for me." Cisco laughs, holds up his hands. "Caitlin's really enjoying herself this season." Joe must look confused because Cisco continues, "Look, she'll never say this on the record... she mightn't even say it off the record... but last year? Her partner?" His lips tighten. "Let's just say it wasn't all sunshine and roses, no matter what she put out on the VTs." He rubs a hand over his lips, his brow creased in a frown. "I didn't think she'd even want to come back for this year." 

Joe raises his water bottle to his lips, takes a long swallow. "She never said." 

Cisco chuckles. "Caitlin's not big on feelings," he says, then pauses, his eyes travelling up and down Joe's whole body. "Well, except for lately." 

His meaning can't be more obvious. "Cisco-"

"Joe, I'm not her dad, or her brother. She's a big girl, she makes her own decisions. I just thought you should know... she's happy this year. Happier than I've seen her in a long time. And she deserves that, OK? She's been through a lot." 

It sounds like there's another story there but Joe doesn't get a chance to ask about it because Caitlin comes back into the room, grins at the two of them and Cisco changes the subject straight away, reminding Caitlin that they have to practise their own tango for their results show performance. 

The result is well worth it and Joe makes sure he stands at the front of the Clauditorium so that he won't miss a thing. He knows there's a camera on his face, recording his every reaction, his every emotion and he hopes that nothing more than admiration will show through. Which, between the complicated moves and the speeds at which they are done, is pretty much a gimme and his applause at the end is loud and sincere. Mr Soap Star, still in the running and the bookies' favourite, stands beside Joe and applauds as well, says something to Joe about Caitlin that the camera doesn't catch but which makes Joe want to wash his mouth out with soap. Well, it actually makes him want to punch his lights out but he's pretty sure the BBC would frown upon that sort of thing. 

When they both end up in the dance off though, him and Caitlin against the Soap Star and his Blonde Bombshell, the idea of going out to them, the memory of those words, makes his tango face come easy. 

Caitlin shakes more than she ever has as they stand in the spotlights in the centre of the stage, her head down, her left arm around his waist, his right arm around hers. Their free hands are joined and he wonders if his is as cold as hers. He's convinced they're going home but Craig and Darcey both vote to save them, with Bruno going for the other couple. It's all down to Head Judge Len and when he votes to save them, Caitlin sags against Joe like he's the only thing holding her up. 

They thank the judges, hug the other couple and head backstage, allowing Tess and Claudia to say their goodbyes to camera, introducing the other couple for their last dance. The other contestants backstage come up and hug him and Caitlin before they gather to descend upon the dance floor but Joe hangs back, keeps his hand in Caitlin's and when they're alone, pulls her into another hug before they go back out there. 

Her eyes are as red as her lipstick when she pulls back to look up at him and he cups her face in his hands, his heart pounding either with adrenaline from the dance off, from relief, or from something else entirely. 

He wants to say something, anything, but the floor manager is beside them, looking almost apologetic. "We need you out there," he says and Joe drops his hands, once more takes one of Caitlin's in his and walks out to the stage with her.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember they have an actual job to do.

*

When he wakes up the next morning, he's tempted for a moment to pretend that the dance off was all a bad dream. 

Then he picks up his phone and finds out that the nightmare is just beginning. 

It's not unusual for him to have a lot of notifications on Sunday morning, lots of texts and missed calls. They start coming in pretty much after the show ends on Saturday night and just keep coming. This morning's, however, are different because they're not all about the dancing or the results or even the dance off. 

Instead he finds link after link to a red top article and he knows he's going to see some glorious purple prose from the headline alone that proclaims, _Strictly Caitlin's Secret Heartbreak_ . There's a photograph underneath it of a much younger Caitlin, her arms around the neck of a handsome, dark haired young man with a strong jaw and a ready smile, a man who's looking at her like she hung the moon. 

A sick feeling in his stomach, Joe knows he shouldn't read on, that this is the very definition of an invasion of privacy. 

He reads anyway. 

_For the last five years, Caitlin Snow has captivated audiences with her stunning dance moves and Ice Queen demeanour. This year, her partnership with singer Joe West has set tongues wagging in the studio and outside it, with several well-placed sources confirming what fans up and down the country have already suspected. "Caitlin and Joe were already falling for each other before she injured her ankle a few weeks ago," says one. "But the way that he stepped up and cared for her, carrying her everywhere and supporting her through it, really made Caitlin realise how much she's come to care for him and that this is more than just a dance partnership."_

_"Caitlin's always been very guarded with her emotions," continues our source. "But everyone's noticed how much more relaxed she is since Joe's been on the scene. He really brings out the best in her."_

_That Caitlin is guarded perhaps shouldn't come as a surprise. For we can reveal today, exclusively, that she's already suffered the heartbreaking loss of the man that she loved. Ronnie Raymond was Caitlin's first love, an engineer that she met at the age of twenty when she was a struggling dancer and he was an engineering student. "It was love at first sight," says a friend who knew them both. "She and Ronnie complemented each other perfectly and he was the first guy she's dated who wasn't threatened by the way she danced with Cisco. He never missed one of their shows."_

_Caitlin and Ronnie dated for five years and were talking about marriage when tragedy struck one cold winter's morning while Ronnie was on his way to work. A truck overturned on an icy road, causing a three car collision. Ronnie, along with two women and the truck driver, were pronounced dead at the scene._

_"Caitlin was devastated," says their friend. "She lost all interest in everything, even dancing. That summer, she and Cisco got offered the jobs on Strictly and he had to work really hard to get her to take it."_

_An early exit that first season didn't deter Caitlin from coming back the following year and she and Cisco have been staples on the show ever since. This year, her partnership with Joe has been one of the highlights of the series, with their romantic rumba scoring a series high thirty nine points last week._

_"Joe's relaxed and easy to get along with," says a Strictly insider, "which is good for Caitlin, who can be highly strung sometimes. They're forever laughing in rehearsals at private jokes and he sings along to the music while they're dancing, which she really enjoys."_

_Last weeks rumba, which moved judge Darcey Bussell to tears, was set to one of Joe's own songs, the aptly entitled "Lady of my Heart," where he played the part of a singer at the end of the night while Caitlin was the beautiful dancer who captivated him. "Everyone knew it was their story they were telling out there," says our insider. "Definitely a case of art imitating life."_

_And if, as many of their fans are saying they will, Joe and Caitlin end up waltzing into the sunset together, who will begrudge them?_

Interspersed through the article are photographs, one of Cisco and Caitlin and Ronnie together, another of Joe and Caitlin mid-rumba, her back against his chest, one of his arms around her waist, the other sliding down her hip. One of her arms is thrown back around his neck and her head is angled towards him and the caption reads, "Passion: Joe and Caitlin can't hide their emotions on the dance floor." There are some candid shots of them leaving rehearsal for lunch, side by side and heads close together, lost in their own world and one that was snapped at the exact wrong - or right, depending on your point of view - moment where his arm was slung around her neck, he was looking down at her, she was looking up at him and it looked for all the world like they could kiss at any moment. 

Joe throws down his phone in mingled horror and disgust. "Shit," he mutters. "Shit." 

Because whatever's going on between him and Caitlin - and yes, it's been a while since he's had any kind of relationship with the opposite sex but he's not a complete idiot, there's definitely something there, no matter how much he tries to deny it to himself - it's not something he wanted paraded around the front pages. Not before they've had a chance to talk about it, and maybe not even after that. 

Sighing, he picks up his phone, sends a message to Iris to call him when she wakes up. Then he presses in Caitlin's number, not surprised in the least when she doesn't pick up. "It's me," he says. "Call me if you want to talk." 

He screens his calls all day, only taking the one from Iris. She hasn't seen the news reports so he fills her in, waits while Barry calls it up on the iPad, listens as she reads it quickly, interjecting snorts of disgust as commentary. "You know nothing's happened between us, right?" he asks her because if there were something to tell, he would have told her first and she chuckles softly. 

"Dad, it's like I said the last time... just because nothing's happened doesn't mean there's nothing going on." 

It's late in the afternoon when his phone rings and Caitlin's picture - minimal makeup, ratty ponytail, cheeks flushed from training - flashes up. She hates that picture, wants to know why he won't use one of the Strictly glamour shots and he always tells her it's to see that funny look on her face when she asks him that question. In reality though, when he thinks of Caitlin, that's how he pictures her, not the airbrushed, made up to beyond perfection Strictly-fied version of her. That's why he keeps that picture - because that's his Caitlin. 

He wonders, as he slides to answer, how he could have missed his feelings for so long. 

"Hey," he says. "Are you ok?" 

"No." Her voice sounds stuffy, like she's been crying for hours. 

"Are you alone? You want me to come over?" 

"I don't think that's a good idea," she says quietly. "Cisco woke me up this morning, he let himself in this morning with the Sunday papers, a box of tissues and two tubs of ice cream... he said there were photographers camped on the sidewalk. He left about twenty minutes ago and texted to tell me they were still there." 

"Ah." And if he were to go there, his photograph would be all over the Internet in minutes, she doesn't have to tell him that. He knows how the game works. "Caitlin, I'm sorry about all this..."

"No, I'm sorry." She cuts across him with a loud sniffle. "I should have told you about Ronnie... I mean, it's not like I've kept it a secret, people do know... But seeing it like that..." Her voice breaks and he wishes they were side by side, the phone a poor substitute. "I never thought anything like that would happen to me. I'm just one of the dancers." 

"Yeah." Suddenly, just like that, it's five years ago and he's watching Iris scroll through Internet articles as tears roll down her cheeks. "Yeah, I know." 

There's a pause, followed by a careful, curious, "Joe?" 

He sighs because he thought she knew. He thought everyone knew. Then again, he realises, it was five years ago and she'd been going through her own hell then Seeing his splashed across the Internet probably hadn't been on her radar. Taking a deep breath, he tells her all about Francine, about the drugs, about her running out on him and Iris when Iris was just a kid. About how she'd reappeared years later when he'd had a little success, a teenage son at her side who was furious that he had a dad he'd never known, jealous of the sister who, as he saw it, wanted for nothing while he and his mom just scraped by. Joe had tried his hardest to build bridges, mend fences and to a certain extent he had, but Wally had shown little or no interest in becoming a real part of the West family. "We're in touch," Joe finishes, "and it's ok. But it's not like me and Iris. It's never gonna be." Five years ago, someone had sold the story to one of the tabloids - he doesn't know who, or why; like Caitlin, he'd never tried to hide it - and some of the quotes and most of the headlines had been lurid in the extreme. 

"So what you're telling me," Caitlin murmurs, and she sounds very tired all of a sudden, "is that there's still another angle for the press to exploit?" 

"I think that particular mine is all tapped out," Joe replies but Caitlin sighs. 

"I just don't want to make things worse for you," she says and he shakes his head even though he knows she can't see him. 

"You couldn't..." 

She doesn't let him finish. "Even if you're on the front pages of the tabloids because of me?" 

He pauses, weighs up his words. "It's not just because of you," he tells her. "You know that, right?" It's as near to a statement of his feelings as he thinks she's ready for today and when she gives a shaky little laugh, he thinks he was right. 

"I've been told," is her answer and he takes a shot. 

"Cisco?" 

"He's good at reading people. Reading me." If Cisco's had the same sort of conversation with her as he's had with Joe, Joe can imagine that that's as close to an admission of her own feelings as she's probably able to give today. "He's the one who talked me into taking _Strictly_ ," she says. "After Ronnie... I was so lost. Everything reminded me of him. And it was killing me... I didn't want to leave but I couldn't imagine staying there without him either. Cisco convinced me that a new job, a new country, it was a new start, what did I have to lose? Five years later, here we are, still dancing." 

"I'm glad. Otherwise, we'd never have met." 

"You were doing ok. When your name came up in the speculation, I never thought you'd sign up. I thought you were too big for the show," 

He's flattered by the compliment. "Like you," he said. "I wanted a change. A challenge. Something to keep me busy while I was giving Iris a break to set up home. And let me tell you... I don't regret a moment of it." 

"You might tomorrow." He can picture her lips twisted in a rueful grimace, moves to put an end to that quickly. 

"Never." There's a long pause before he adds softly, "You and me, remember? Just like rehearsals." 

There's a sob on the other end of the line. "Stop making me cry," she orders. "I'm so sick of crying." 

There's not a lot he can say to that. "You know I'm here, right? For whatever you need."

"I know." Her voice is quiet. "I'll see you tomorrow?" 

"Bright and early," he promises and he stays on the line, listening to her breathing, for a long moment before hanging up. 

They have the same idea of getting to the rehearsal studio early, before the camera crew have even set up. There's a few dirty looks from the operators when they see them sitting side by side, coffees in hand and pastries half finished and Joe agrees to re-stage his entry so that they can film it. They've already been told, in a late night phone call from a producer, that they won't address the newspaper stories on camera, not when they've got the escape from the dance off story to run with and Joe's not going to lie, hearing that makes him a hell of a lot more receptive to jumping through whatever VT hoops they've got lined up for him. He and Caitlin don't discuss it either, which confuses the hell out of Iris when she calls him that night but he's strangely okay with avoiding the conversation. Between the dance off and the newspapers, Caitlin had been a little more brittle than usual and he doesn't want to push her to talk if she's not ready, Cisco's remarks about how she didn't do feelings running through his head. He's a patient man, he's not afraid to wait. 

The last thing he wants to do is put pressure on her when Semi-Final Week is enough pressure all on its own, with two new dances to perfect to get them through to the final. Their first is the samba they'd avoided after she hurt her ankle, set to _Young Americans_ by David Bowie. When she interviews them that Tuesday, Zoe notes that it's appropriate for them and Joe shakes his head. "For Caitlin, maybe," he says. "My knees on the double bounce are saying it's only half appropriate for me." Caitlin swats at his arm and tells Zoe to ignore him, that he's doing great. 

The second dance is ballroom, a foxtrot and Joe much prefers that, which Zoe points out during the same interview. "I thought I'd be better at Latin," Joe admits, "and I think that's the biggest surprise, for me, is how much I've enjoyed the ballroom." 

"But the foxtrot's one of the most difficult ones, with the slow, quick, quick, slow, how are you finding that?" 

In truth, Joe's not finding it hard at all. Caitlin had simply put on the music, told him the steps and he'd learned it pretty much in the first training session. He doesn't want to say that to Zoe though, gives some glib answer about how maybe it's because he's having so much trouble with the double bounce that the ballroom seems easy in comparison. 

"Or maybe..." Zoe says with a flourish and Joe finds himself frowning. He knows what the woman looks like when she's got a trick up her sleeve. "Maybe it's because you like the song so much. Have a look at this." 

What follows is forty-five seconds of training room VT, most of which consists of him singing _For Once in my Life_ in Caitlin's ear in various levels of tone and volume. Sometimes he does it absentmindedly, without even realising he's doing it, other times it's very much on purpose, to make her smile or laugh or maybe just blush. The VT editors must have had a great time putting it all together because Caitlin's constant rejoinders of, "You're singing", "Stop singing", "You can't sing on Saturday," have Joe erupting into peals of laughter on the couch and Caitlin is right there with him. She covers her lips with her hands, maybe as much in embarrassment as to keep the laughter at bay, but she gives up the ghost entirely about thirty seconds in, leaning into him and hiding her face in his chest, just for a moment. His arm goes around her shoulders and that's how they watch the last few seconds which is a clip from that day's rehearsal where giddiness had got the better of him and he'd totally broken both character and choreography, had begun dancing her around the room in what was more like a Viennese waltz hold, where her body was pressed tight against his as he sang the song in the most romantic way he knew before picking her up and spinning her off her feet. She'd been smiling up at him when he put her down and he'd joked, "New ending?" and she'd shaken her head as he'd known she would but she was smiling when she said, "No." Joe had glanced at the camera and shrugged, made a face and that was what they closed on. 

"I have watched that a dozen times," Zoe admitted, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "You two are just having a ball." 

Caitlin's shoulders are still shaking with laughter. "Am I always so bossy?" she asks and it's a question that makes Joe laugh even more. 

"I am not answering that," he tells her. 

"You're just determined," Zoe says. "Caitlin, this is your fifth year on _Strictly_ and your first semi-final. How would it feel to go home this weekend?"

That question ends their mirth, and quickly. "I think this week would be the worst week to go home," Caitlin answers, stating the obvious. "And obviously, having been in the dance off, I think we feel a little more vulnerable. But I think we have two good dances and anything can happen on the night so we just have to do our best, do our job and see what happens." 

Zoe directs the same question to Joe. "I'd be devastated," he says honestly and he sees surprise show on Zoe's face. "Not so much for me, but for Caitlin. For her to never have been in the final before, when she's such an amazing dancer and an amazing person... it would mean the world to me to be the one who gets her there." 

Caitlin's cheeks go bright red and Zoe claps her hands over her heart and, once again, Twitter goes ballistic. 

Almost as ballistic as the studio audience on Saturday night when the final notes of the foxtrot fade into the distance. It's the best they've done it, Joe knows even before he lifts Caitlin off her feet and spins her around, bridal style, in the middle of the floor. The scores bear that out, another thirty nine, and when they're called first through to the final it's the icing on the cake. 

*


	6. Chapter 6

Making it to the final means three dances - Judges' Choice, Couple's Choice and a show dance. They learn about the judges' choice first thing on Monday morning when they're brought to a fancy hotel and into a room where they sit side by side in front of the judges, like the world's weirdest job interview. 

Len starts the talking once the cameras are rolling. "We've decided to ask you to bring back your waltz," he says and Joe can't help himself, he's smiling before the man's finished speaking. "You did a good job in Week One but we're going to be looking for improvement in your hold, your posture..." 

"Finishing off your lines, particularly your hands," Craig says pointedly. 

"It was a beautiful, lyrical performance," Bruno finishes. "So let us see how you've grown as a dancer." 

They're asked for their reaction in front of the cameras before they can even discuss it among themselves. "Really happy," Joe says, pleased to see Caitlin's smiling too. "I've said that I really enjoy the ballroom and I love that dance so it's going to be nice to go back to it."

Caitlin looks up at him, talks to him rather than the camera. "I think it's going to be great to really show them how far you've come, how much your technique has improved. Especially these." She grabs one hand and holds it up to the camera and he automatically holds it the way Craig favours. "See?"

The camera operator makes the universal gesture for keep talking. "Plus, the song is called _Iris_ , and my daughter, Iris, will be in the audience, so that's even more reason for us to get it perfect." She'd confirmed her flights the day before, having told him in no uncertain terms that there was no way she was missing him dancing in the final. She and Barry are flying in on Wednesday and Joe is as excited about that as the final itself. 

A thumbs up from the camera man and they're on their way back to the studios for rehearsal. In the car on the way there, Caitlin is chewing her thumbnail lost in thought. Joe taps her knee lightly with one finger to get her attention. 

"Penny for your thoughts," he says and she blushes. 

"I'm not even sure they're worth that." He doesn't say anything, waits for her to continue in her own time. "I'm thinking about our show dance." 

He sits up straight, interested now. "You've been thinking about a show dance for five seasons now," he quips and when she looks down, he guesses he's not that far from the truth. "What have you got in mind?" 

"Well, ballroom. And because of the lifts, something American Smooth based?" Which all sounds fine to him but she still looks worried. "I'm just wondering if it's too same-y with the waltz." 

"You'll make them different." He has the utmost faith in her but his words don't seem to have any effect. 

"I guess... It's just... It's the final. I don't want to let you down-"

She stops talking when his hand closes over hers and he squeezes her fingers tightly. "Caitlin, there's no way you could ever let me down. You know that right?" He presses his lips together, thinks about what he wants to say. "I just want to enjoy this week, the same way we've enjoyed all the other weeks. If that means two ballroom dances, then bring it on. Let's let them see us." Because what he's realised this morning is that this is the very last week they'll do this, that their time in this bubble is rapidly coming to an end and he doesn't want them to waste a single moment second guessing themselves. Maybe she comes to the same conclusion because she sucks in a shuddering breath and nods. 

"Now... if I know you, Miss Snow, you've already got the music picked out and half choreographed. Want to clue me in?" 

Her cheeks flush as she holds up her phone. "I actually started thinking about this after our American Smooth," she says, scrolling through the music app. A couple of taps later and Fred Astaire's voice floats out, singing " _Heaven, I'm in Heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak..._ " She presses stop because she must know that he knows the song and her cheeks are even more flushed when she looks down. "I wasn't sure... I mean, after last Sunday..." 

She stops talking again, this time when his fingers close over her knee, rest there lightly. "I think it's perfect."

The reveal of their music happens on _It Takes Two_ and Zoe is predictably enthusiastic about it. "And what about your choice of dance? What are we going to see from Team JoeLin?" 

That had taken a bit more thought and Joe says as much. "We wanted to do something Latin, to show a different side than the waltz and show dance. First I wanted to do the Paso Doble..."

Zoe gasps, getting it immediately. "Because you two never got to do that one together." 

Which had been Joe's point. Caitlin had seen things differently. "I was worried that because we hadn't danced it together, it would be like learning a whole new dance."

"So then I suggested the rumba," Joe says and Caitlin sits very primly, hands joined over crossed knees and shakes her head. It makes Zoe laugh. 

"Caitlin is sitting here, saying, 'No!'" she laughs. "Is that because it's such a hard dance for the man? But your scores..."

"I loved doing that dance." The colour on Caitlin's cheeks is higher than could reasonably be accounted for by the heat of the studio. "But we did so well the first time, I wanted to pick something that we could improve on, and improve well on." 

Zoe grins, ready with her flourish. "And the winner, ladies and gentlemen..." She waves her hand and a blast of _Bidi Bidi Bom Bom_ surrounds them. Joe can't help himself, his shoulders are moving to the beat the second he hears it, five seconds later he's on his feet, pulling Caitlin up with him and performing a couple of steps, twirling her under his arm as she laughs. 

"Well, that's never happened on this show before." 

Zoe's generally unflappable but even she sounds a little bemused and Joe gives her what he hopes is an apologetic grin as he sits back down. "That's why we picked it. It's one of those songs that, when you hear it, it makes you want to get up and dance, it makes you want to smile. And this week, we've got three dances, we've got publicity to do, anything that gives you that extra bit of energy, we need." 

"It is a long week, isn't it?" Zoe had herself been in the final as a contestant in the third series so he knows that she understands exactly what he means. "And you have non-Strictly related memories with that song, don't you?" 

Joe nods. "Iris used to love it when she was a kid, I used to dance her around the kitchen to it. And assuming she's not annoyed with me telling that story over and over, and assuming we get through the first vote, she's going to be here on Saturday night to see it this time, so that's going to be cool." He inclines his head towards Caitlin. "We're working on some new lifts too, upping the difficulty..." Caitlin holds up her two hands, fingers crossed and he shrugs, echoes the gesture. "But everyone is so good now, anyone could win. And that's what makes it exciting."

He's a little bit more forthcoming in the interviews for the VT for the final, especially those where he's interviewed on his own. "To lift the glitterball would be the perfect end to my _Strictly_ journey." He knows it's corny, but he also knows it's what the producers want to hear so it's got more of a chance of being left in. "But it's not just about me. I couldn't have done this without Caitlin, and as phenomenal a dancer as she is, she's even more phenomenal as a person. To be the one who helps her lift the glitterball... I couldn't ask for more than that." 

OK, that's also corny. But he doesn't have a problem with it because it happens to be true. 

Iris and Barry arrive on the Wednesday morning while he's at rehearsal and this time, even though he really wants to, there's no way he can spare the time to go to Heathrow to collect them. They understand and have no problem going straight to their hotel to freshen up and unpack. They meet him that evening at the rehearsal studio when Joe and Caitlin are about to break for dinner and this time, the reunion isn't stage managed or recorded, it's just him and his little girl and it feels so good to see her. Iris greets Caitlin warmly, pulls her into a hug and introduces her to Barry and when Caitlin looks at her watch and suggests a two hour break and she'll see them then, Iris looks at her like she's lost her mind. 

"Caitlin, you have to come with us. Tell her, Dad." She tucks her arm through Caitlin's, a determined look on her face that Joe knows all too well. "I want to hear everything." 

To Joe's surprise, Barry chimes in. "I think you'd better come with us, Caitlin... when Iris gets that look on her face, nothing can change her mind." 

Caitlin bites her lip as she looks over at Joe. "You're not intruding," he says, because he knows exactly what she's thinking. "It wouldn't be the same without you." 

She nods, and he knows the battle has been won. 

Dinner passes in a blur of catching up, hearing stories about Central City and the house and the band and Harrison having to eat his words about Joe taking part in the show. Iris wants to know all about the dances for the final and how it works and she insists on staying for some of their rehearsal, even tries to pull Barry up to dance a little of their salsa. It doesn't end well for him and not for the first time Joe wonders how his son-in-law can be such a good guitarist when he has absolutely no sense of rhythm. 

Thursday is their last day of rehearsal in the room that's become like their second home, while Friday means rehearsals at Elstree Studios, where they get to see the other finalists' routines, as well as the eliminated contestants doing a group dance which, like the first group dance of only months ago, is a special kind of organised chaos. Joe looks at them from the sidelines, laughing and applauding wildly and he can't believe so much has happened in such a short space of time, because that group dance seems like a lifetime ago. 

When all the cameras are switched off and everyone is on their way home, he catches Caitlin by the elbow. Her smile is wide and ready when she looks up at him but whatever she sees in his face makes her narrow her eyes. "Listen, can I come over tonight?" he asks her and her eyes fly open wide, almost comically. "I'd really like for us to talk before tomorrow. No cameras, no script... just us." 

Her hand closes over his. "I'd like that too." 

He's very aware that they have an early call the next morning so he doesn't arrive too late. She's waiting for him because she answers the door almost straight away. She's barefoot, wearing a long sweater and a pair of black leggings, her hair long and loose down her back. She offers him a glass of wine - "A small one won't hurt," she says and he accepts - and then sits down beside him on the couch, close enough that he can feel the heat of her body but not quite touching him. 

"So..." he says, rubbing his hands together. "I know we already did the whole talking about our _Strictly_ journey together earlier, with the cameras and all... And everything I said, I meant. But I... I got you something, and I didn't want to give it to you in front of them." 

She bites her lip. "You didn't have to..." Her voice fades when he hands her the box, neatly gift-wrapped, a thin gold ribbon tied around it. 

"It's kind of a happy Christmas slash thank you for everything gift," he says. He has to put it in her hands because it seems like she's frozen in place suddenly. "Go ahead. Open it." 

Her hands shake a little as she pulls the ribbon carefully and she picks at the tape, peeling it back and removing the paper all in one piece. Somehow finding out that she's not a rip the package open type person doesn't surprise Joe in the least. She gasps a little when she sees the pale cream box underneath, "Pandora" embossed on it and she looks at him as she opens it up, one hand going to her lips when she looks down at what's inside. "Joe..." Her hands shake even more as she picks up the bracelet, fingers moving along the charms that he'd spent so much time picking out online. 

"So, the ballet slipper at the start, that's for you." He points to the first charm. "It was the closest I could get to a dancing shoe. The music note beside it, that's me." 

Her eyes meet his and she smiles. "I got that." She holds the bracelet up, frowns at the next charm. "A flower?" 

He'd wondered if she'd get that. "It's an iris," he tells her and she laughs softly. "And the next one..." 

It's a red charm, the letters L-O-V-E stylised into the shape of a square. She doesn't need his help with that one. "Our American Smooth." She smiles, points to the next one. "A soldier?" 

The official charm name is "Guard of my Heart" but he doesn't tell her that. "It reminded me of one of the guards outside Buckingham Palace... so that's London, where we met..." 

"And Paris? Did I miss something?" She lifts one eyebrow in question at the Eiffel Tower charm and he shrugs. 

"Blackpool Tower doesn't have a charm," he tells her. "I figured this was close enough." 

Her shoulder brushes his as she leans against him, her voice full of wonderment. "And the piano beside it... _Piano Man_." For just a moment, he's back in the Tower Ballroom, holding her in his arms, whirling her around the floor. It's a good memory but he wills himself back to the present when she touches the next charm, the second last one, because he's hoping to shortly make a better one. "A heart..."

"For our rumba... _Lady of my Heart_ ," he says, the title taking on an extra meaning in this context. She has to hear it and maybe that's why her eyes are huge when she looks up at him, the last charm caught between her thumb and index finger. 

"And this one..." 

Her breath catches and he thinks she's worked out what the last charm means, what it represents. It's shaped like a sphere, studded with dozens of tiny clear crystal stones. It catches the light in the room, sparkly and bright and he nods. "It's a glitterball," he confirms. "I wanted to make sure you had one... just in case I can't get you the real thing." 

There are tears in Caitlin's eyes and she shakes her head as one makes its way down her cheek. "You have got to stop making me cry," she whispers but there's no anger in her tone. Just happiness. "You know I hate it." 

"Yeah," he says. "I'll do that." He takes the bracelet from her hands. "Let me help you with this..." She holds out her wrist and he closes the bracelet around it, fingers slipping a little on the stubborn clasp but he eventually gets it to snap closed. His fingers stay on her wrist, holding it gently and he can feel her pulse pounding. "It looks good," he says, lifting his head to look into her eyes and she's moved closer to him because their foreheads are close enough to touch and he can feel her breath against his lips. It's the most natural thing in the world to close the distance between them, to press his lips against hers and he smiles as he feels her sigh into the kiss. Her cheeks are warm under his hands as he cups her face and she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Tiny jolts of electricity zip up and down his spine and he loses all track of time, all track of everything except how good it feels to finally give into what's been building between them for so long. 

She's the one who breaks the kiss, resting her forehead against his. Her breathing is shallow and rapid, her eyelids heavy as she whispers, "You need to leave..."

It's the equivalent of a bucket of ice cold water being dumped over his head. "Caitlin, I'm sorry..." he whispers but she giggles, resting her hand on his cheek and silencing him with her thumb over his lips. 

"Because if you don't," she tells him, voice low and amused, "we're both going to be awake all night, and we'll never make it through tomorrow." She says it like it's a certainty and as he stares at her in frank amazement and she winds her arms around his neck, kissing him again and moving her body against his, he has to admit that she's probably right. 

Three false starts later, he's standing on the opposite side of her front door, his lips pleasantly swollen from their kisses, a smile on his face and, as he walks outside, it feels like his feet aren't even touching the ground. 

* 

The next day can only be described as a whirlwind. The car picks him up at a ridiculously early hour but when he gets to the studios, Caitlin is already there, sitting in a makeup chair with two hairstylists around her, putting curlers into her hair. She grins broadly when her eyes meet his in the mirror and he decides to brave the wrath of the stylists by leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. Which he slightly regrets when the odour of fake tan hits him but then he sees Caitlin's smile grow even wider and then he doesn't regret it at all. 

That moment is enough to get him through his own initial stint in makeup and then it's off for a rehearsal with the band. There's a big showy opening number that the choreography team have put together to start off the show that involves him and the other three finalists standing high above the stage on platforms and being lowered down. It's not Joe's favourite moment of the series and he says as much to Caitlin. "I don't know why they have us up there alone," he grumbles as they stand on the sidelines, taking a rare breather. 

She grins. "Don't tell me you're scared of heights," she teases and he shrugs. 

"It just doesn't feel right without you." It sounds like a line, he knows, but he means every word. She knows it too, he can tell from the way she bites her lip and the look in her eyes is exactly the look she had last night when she told him he had to go. 

He really wants to kiss her. 

Then he remembers where he is and that they're all mic-ed up and that the backstage crew are probably able to hear all of this so he just takes a deep breath and squeezes her hand instead. 

Final makeup is next where they also grab a quick bite to eat and then it's into wardrobe for their opening costumes. The number goes off without a hitch and then they have their introductions and a very quick wardrobe change into their waltz outfits. They've changed his slightly, because everyone agrees that tails would work better for the American Smooth, so for his waltz he's in black trousers and matching jacket, a crisp white shirt and gold tie. Caitlin's dress is new too, gold to match his tie, strapless and sparkling and tight on the bodice, flaring out in a full skirt coming down to her knees. Tiny sparkles catch the light as she moves towards him in their spot and he grins as he sees her. 

"You look stunning," he tells her as he takes her hand and kisses her knuckles and she laughs as she takes him in waltz hold and adjusts his arms. There's a camera right beside them, pointing at them, and Joe makes a face into it. "Work, work, work, that's what my life is." 

He doesn't know if that will make it into a VT for the results show but he figures it's better to give them something to work with. 

"You and me," she tells him softly as they wait for the music to start. 

"Just like rehearsal." He finishes the line and he knows it's all going to be just fine. 

The waltz goes perfectly, the crowd on their feet before Joe and Caitlin are in the final pose, facing each other with her head resting on his shoulder. When they walk over to the judges, Joe is surprised to see Len is standing too and even Craig can't quite keep back a smile as he notes the vast improvement of his hands and thumb in particular. He still gives them a nine though, the rest of the judges pulling out a maximum score. 

Their second dance is the show dance, full of lifts to impress the audience and footwork to impress the judges. He's back in his tails which, in a day of miracles don't feel like they're going to choke him, while Caitlin's dress is somewhere between a nightdress and a bridal gown. The thought makes him smile and catch his breath all at once. He's nervous but the moment the music starts he feels himself relax and even though he knows he shouldn't, he can't help but sing along as he moves across the floor and he definitely sees Caitlin's real smile, not just her dancing smile, peeking through too. They finish with a flourish and a dip, Caitlin bent back in his arms as he cradles her head with one hand, the other extended (and beautifully shaped, are you watching, Craig?) behind him. When they stand back up, they linger in the middle of the floor, smiling at one another as they soak in the audience's reactions and Joe takes her hand in his and, as he's done so many times, kisses it. This time, however, he breaks with tradition, places the kiss in the centre of her palm and her smile is nothing short of brilliant. 

"How do you feel about that?" Tess asks him when he's standing beside her and all he can do is shake his head. 

"No words," he says simply. "I think that's the best we've ever done that."

Beside him, Caitlin is nodding and Tess continues with, "That could be your last dance on _Strictly_ , Joe... do you have anything you want to say to Caitlin?" 

Joe chuckles as he runs a hand over his lips, pretty sure he knows the type of declaration that Tess has in mind, equally as sure she's not going to get it. "She knows," he says and Caitlin's hand, the one that's not around his waist, comes to rest just over his heart. "She knows," he says again as his eyes meet hers and the words continue to come without his having to think about them. "But I would say thank you... for this, for everything... I couldn't have done this with anyone but you." 

"Caitlin?" 

Her eyes are bright but her voice is steady when she replies, "The same." 

Tess turns to the judges then, all of whom are fulsome in their praise of the dance. Joe barely heard them though, his world narrowed down to the touch of Caitlin's hands on his chest and waist and the pounding of his heart. The next thing he knows, they're running up the stairs and Claudia is pointing out that Iris is once again in tears and then that the judges scores are in. 

When Craig holds up a ten, Caitlin stiffens in Joe's arms and he swears she stops breathing. He's not that far behind her. 

One by one, all the judges hold up a ten, giving them a maximum score. The Clauditorium, full with all the contestants back for the last night, erupts into noisy madness and in the midst of it all, Caitlin turns to Joe, her jaw slack, and slips her arms around his waist and buries her head in his shoulder for a few seconds before turning back to the camera. He holds her tight, before and after, listens to Claudia reminding the viewing audience at home that tonight, the scores are for guidance only and that they still need to vote. 

They head backstage while the VT for the next couple is playing, do their little piece to camera that will no doubt be broadcast on the results show. Joe's still in shock but somewhere between the walk and actually standing in front of the camera, Caitlin recovers herself and she is actually giddy with delight by the time they're interviewed. He's seen her like this in the training room, of course, but never after a dance, never on show night and he finds himself thinking once again how much he still has to learn about her. 

Once they've said their bit, he takes her hand, pulls her down the corridor , frowning when he looks behind her and sees the camera operator trying to follow them. "Guys, just..." He holds up his hand, feeling a little bad because after all, they're only doing their jobs, but not bad enough to stop. "Just give us a second, OK?" 

The boom operator and camera operator share a look, an unspoken conversation. Then the camera gets dipped down and the boom is at waist height and the two men turn away, knowing smiles on their faces as they stand shoulder to shoulder, effectively blocking anyone from following Joe and Caitlin down the corridor. 

Joe knows better than to waste an opportunity like that and Caitlin obviously does too. They're around the corner in seconds, hidden from prying eyes and Joe wraps her in his arms, presses his head into the hollow where her neck meets her shoulder and spin her off her feet. When he puts her down, he cups her face in his hands, backs her up until she's pressed against the wall, rests his forehead against hers. He can feel his heart pounding and he can feel her breath in rapid little puffs against his skin. "Mic's," she mouths, reminding him, as if he could forget, that they're both wearing microphone packs, that even if there are no eyes on them, people could still be listening to everything they say. So he doesn't say anything, just nods before bringing his lips to hers in a kiss that's so gentle it could almost be considered chaste, if you don't take into account how he's pressing his lower body against hers, how she's arching against him, how they're as close as two people can possibly be. 

Because of where they are, because there's a live show happening not too far away, he keeps it brief and they're out into view and back along the corridor a minute later as if nothing had happened. 

But when they get back to the Clauditorium and people see their still joined hands, he's got a feeling their secret is out. 

*

Final Night is the only night of the year where there's actually a live results show, instead of the usual "Let's All Pretend That This is Going Out Live on Sunday" results show. Which means that they all have to be dressed for their third dance, hair and makeup changed and ready to go at the exact right time. There's an army of backstage crew running around to make sure that they are but Joe still manages to find a moment with Caitlin before they head around to take their spots. Actually, it's more like she finds him because he's going through some steps when he hears a wolf-whistle behind him and he spins effortlessly and grins. "A little bit of déjà vu going on here," he says as he shimmies over to her. 

"What can I say?" she says and she keeps her voice light, even if her eyes say something different. "All about the hips." 

He takes the opportunity to look her up and down, knowing that it's the last time they'll be standing here like this. Her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and the dress is a new one, still as short as her first salsa dress, huge cut outs at either side leaving him wondering where he's actually allowed to put his hands. Then he remembers the last twenty four hours and realises that's not a problem. The dress is purple, just like his shirt, and just as sequinned and she spins in front of him, he knows where he's seen something like it before. "You channelling Selena at the Astrodome?" he asks and he's not worried about being overheard - he's got a feeling very few people would understand the reference. 

"I figure it can't hurt," she says, doing a little move that he remembers Iris trying to do as a kid. Iris had never looked like that though. 

"I dunno," he says, offering her his arm and leading her towards the stage. "I'm pretty happy with the partner I got." 

It's a relaxed moment but when they go to air, standing underneath the lights, there's nothing relaxed about it. Four couples are standing there but only three will perform their third dance, the couple with the lowest public vote being eliminated. Joe holds his breath, holds Caitlin's hand tightly until Tess calls a name and the lights go off over their heads and he sighs with relief as he meets Caitlin's eyes and realises that they still have one more dance to do. 

They watch the first couple from the balcony, then go down to the main dance floor to wait for their music to start. As they wait, a VT package plays and, to Joe's complete non-surprise, the whole romance angle is played up, with copious references to both her injury and their rumba. His piece to camera calling her phenomenal made it in, and he hears her voice full of tears saying, "I never could have imagined the kind of partnership we ended up having. It's honestly been the best experience on _Strictly_ that I ever could have had." 

There's a round of applause from the audience and he grins down at her. "Aw," he teases, his lips twitching and she grins back at him. 

"You and me," she says and he knows his part. 

"Just like rehearsal." 

Except it's not like rehearsal, it's better. The new lifts and twists bring gasps and hoots from the crowd and every time Joe rotates his hips, there's a definite reaction, although he catches sight of Iris during one and she's hiding her face in Barry's shoulder. His son-in-law, on the other hand, is staring at him with jaw agape, a look of stupefied amazement on his face. Acting entirely on impulse, Joe sends a wink in his direction and Barry laughs out loud. The rest of the dance passes in a blur until they reach their big finish, a move where Joe lifts Caitlin over his head and sends her into a drop. They end with her leaning back, her legs wrapped around his waist, her ponytail and one arm sweeping the floor and the roar from the crowd, Joe swears, is the loudest they've ever had. 

Iris is jumping up and down in the front row as they go to the judges and it seems like everyone in the room is standing for them. There are more catcalls when they go upstairs and more tens as well. Their second full house of the night sends the place into uproar, reduces Caitlin to happy tears and even brings a lump to Joe's throat. 

Later, they stand with the two other finalists at the edge of the balcony, watching the group dance. Caitlin stands in front, Joe directly behind her, his hands braced on the balcony on either side of her, and they take turns to shout encouragement to their friends, to cheer them on. It's a moment where they don't have to worry about the cameras, a moment where they can just be themselves and when Caitlin's head half-turns and she meets his gaze over her shoulder, he's reminded that there will be many more times like that in the future. 

He likes the sound of that. 

He thinks that officially, the most nervous he's ever been on _Strictly_ is when the last three couples are lined up side by side on the dance floor, the giant glitterball trophy in front of them. There's the music again, the thumping heartbeat that Joe is sure will feature in all of his stress dreams from now on. Caitlin is tucked into his right side, her left arm around his waist, his right arm around her shoulders. This close, he can feel her shaking and he knows he's not much better. Tess takes her sweet time announcing the winners and it feels like an eternity before he hears the words he's been waiting to hear. 

"It's Joe and Caitlin!" 

There's a scream from the audience that he knows comes from Iris. Caitlin looks up her him, her free hand covering her mouth and he turns to her, pulls her into a hug and spins her crazily off her feet. Her laughter bubbles in his ears and when he sets her down again, her hands curl lightly on his shoulders and for just a moment, it's only the two of them. He cups her face in his hands and she says, "You did it!" and he shakes his head at that, because this has never been a solo thing for him. 

"No," he tells her. "We did." 

He's dimly aware of Tess and Claudia interviewing the two other finalists and he makes himself lower his hands to Caitlin's shoulders while hers rest against his chest. In contrast to the long wait for the announcement, Tess returns to them quickly with a, "Sorry to interrupt!' where she doesn't sound very sorry at all. "How do you feel right now?" 

It's a slightly ridiculous question but Joe answers it anyway. "I said all along," he tells her, "I didn't want this for me. I wanted it for Caitlin. She's made this experience into what it is for me, I'd never danced outside of my kitchen, and look at what she made happen." He squeezes Caitlin's shoulder. "This is all for you." 

Tess asks Caitlin if she has anything to say and all that comes out is, "Thank you," before she presses her lips together and closes her eyes. 

"It's all right, my lovely," Tess tells her. "Sometimes, you don't need words." 

She gets on with presenting them the trophy then and, as he helps Caitlin hold it aloft, Joe thinks that she's absolutely right about that. 

*

Afterwards, there are hugs from the other dancers, photographs with each other and the trophy and Barry and Iris. There are reporters milling around the dance floor, hungry for quotes, and there's the BBC Red Button Live Show, hosted by Zoe, going on up in the Clauditorium. There they speak to Zoe and some super fans of the show and by the time that finishes, there's the serious business of a wrap party to attend. 

It's held at the ballroom of a very fancy London hotel and even though they've been dancing all day, the dance floor is full from the second that the party starts. Champagne is flowing freely, cameras flashing in every direction and throughout it all, Joe hardly leaves Caitlin's side, or she his. Most of the time they're surrounded by other people but sometimes they steal a moment alone and it's in one of those moments, when they're standing close to one another, his hand tracing gentle patterns on her hip, that Cisco bops over to them. 

"My man!" he says, hugging Joe first, then dropping a kiss on Caitlin's cheek. "You two were seriously amazing." He claps a hand to his chest. "I'm actually worried about being replaced." 

Caitlin laughs, lays a hand on his cheek. "Never," she says fondly. 

Joe jerks his chin towards the dance floor. "You two should get out there," he says. "Show them how it's done." 

"Funny." Cisco tilts his head, points between them, his eyes bright with merriment. "I thought you'd have other plans." He waggles his eyebrows and Caitlin says his name with a scandalised sounding laugh. That only makes Cisco look at her with a dead eyed stare. "Caitlin, I love you," he tells her bluntly. "You're like a sister to me, so I don't say this lightly. But you two?" Again, his finger moves back and forth between them. "You need to get a room." 

Joe is slightly taken aback at the blunt pronouncement but Caitlin just draws herself up to her full height. "You know, Cisco," she says, and though she's talking to him, she's looking at Joe, "I think that's an excellent idea." Lacing her fingers through Joe's, she grabs her little sparkly purse and begins to lead him towards the door. The last image Joe has of Cisco is of the younger man laughing, flashing him a thumbs up sign. 

They're silent as they walk across the lobby to the bank of elevators in the corner and as they're waiting, Joe's thumb sweeps across their joined hands. A ripple of goose flesh runs along Caitlin's arms and she shivers. Joe turns to her, his free hand landing on her hip. "Cold?" he asks because it's days away from Christmas and there's not a lot of coverage in her dress. 

She shakes her head. "No." 

The elevator seems to take forever to come but it's mercifully deserted, as is the top floor rented out by the BBC solely for _Strictly_ guests. Her room turns out to be closer to the elevators and he can't help but notice how her hand trembles as she slides the key card into the lock. Once inside, she drops her purse onto the floor before turning to slide home the deadbolt on the door and he stands behind her as she does so, running his hands down her arms, smiling into her neck as his fingers graze against the bracelet on her wrist. She leans back against him, lets him support her weight and he hears what sounds like a sigh of contentment come from her lips. 

"Happy?" he asks her, just to make sure and she turns in his arms as easily as she's ever done on the dance floor. There's a soft smile to her lips that he's sure is his new favourite look on her and she lays her hands on his chest as she kicks off her high heels. 

"Now I'm perfect," she says with a little giggle, all her emphasis on the first word. 

"I agree." He's being very serious, even if it's not exactly what she meant and she chuckles as one hand moves to cup his cheek. He lowers his head, rests his forehead against hers, not moving for a long moment - he's been anticipating this moment all day and now that it's finally here, he wants to savour it. "You're beautiful," he whispers and she laughs shakily. 

"You're not so bad yourself." 

Her eyes are huge and dark in the dim light of the room as her fingers find the buttons of his shirt, sliding open the first one easily. She works her way down, slowly and deliberately as his fingers trace a path up and down her back, trace patterns on her hips. Once his shirt is fully open, she slides her palms up his chest, the touch of her skin on his making him shiver and he leans in then, brushes his lips across hers as she cups the back of his neck, holding him in place. 

He kisses her slowly, carefully, like they have all the time in the world and when he can't stand it anymore, he moves his hands to her hips, lifts her easily and presses her against the wall, fighting back a groan as her legs bracket his waist. His hips move against hers and she breaks the kiss with a gasp, throwing her head back and giving him free access to nip at her neck. 

"I believe," he whispers, punctuating the words with kisses, "you mentioned something about the two of us being awake all night?" 

Her fingers move across the back of his head and the gleam he sees when their eyes meet is everything he's ever wanted to see. "You've got some moves you want to show me?" she teases and he rolls his hips against hers. The noise he gets in response is somewhere between a gasp and a moan and he immediately wants nothing more than to hear it again. Often. Possibly forever. 

"I'm sure I can come up with something," he promises, moving back just enough that her feet can hit the floor. She steadies herself against him before reaching for him, taking him in hold, and then...

And then, they dance. 

*

Nine months later, they're back in London, back at Elstree Studios. It's Launch Show Night, or at least the recording of the launch show, and he and Caitlin are there to perform the now traditional Champion's Last Dance. They recreate their show dance to enormous applause and when they make their way over to stand beside Tess, the blonde woman is shaking her head in amazement. 

"You haven't lost a step, Joe," she enthuses. "Caitlin, you must have been putting him through his paces!" 

"I try," Caitlin grins, like they haven't been training hard for the past month. It hadn't all come from Caitlin either - Joe has enough pride, some would say vanity, that he didn't want to perform badly, or worse, be completely out of breath on national television. 

"She doesn't have to try too hard," Joe tells Tess, pulling Caitlin a little closer to him with one arm around her shoulder. "Dancing with Caitlin's not exactly work." 

That brings a round of applause and when it fades, Tess goes to her next question. "Do you have any advice for the next generation of _Strictly_ stars, any words of wisdom?" 

Joe looks up to the balcony, not quite able to believe it's a year since he was standing there, listening to someone else answer the exact same question. "Just enjoy every minute of it," he says, speaking from the heart. "You're going to have good days and bad days and days when you think you'll never get the step or learn the routine... but it's worth every minute. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat." 

"Now Joe..." Tess's voice turns conspiratorial, like there's just her and Joe in the room, instead of almost a thousand other people, not to mention millions at home, listening to their every word. "It's no secret that you took home a lot more than a glitterball trophy last year." There's a chorus of "oooh" from the audience and Joe grins as Caitlin ducks her head, leans in to let it rest against his shoulder. "How will you be feeling this year, watching the lady of your heart dance with someone else?" 

Caitlin lifts her head to look at him, raising one eyebrow with a saucy grin that the camera probably can't pick up. Just like on the dance floor, Joe doesn't miss a beat. 

"Proud," he says simply, looking into Caitlin's eyes. "I'm biased, I know, but this woman..." One hand runs down her back, rests on her hip and he closes his other hand over it, encircling her in his embrace. "She's the most amazing dancer, an incredible choreographer... and she's just the most fantastic person. I can't wait to see what she comes up with this year." Caitlin's cheeks darken along with her eyes and he breaks her gaze to look up to the balcony, to the celebrities waiting there. "And whoever gets to be her partner... well, you're the second luckiest guy in the world." 

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Tess looking fit to swoon, but when he returns his gaze to Caitlin, she's suddenly the only person he sees. The smile on her face is brighter than any glitterball trophy, brighter even than the diamond that sparkles on her left hand, catching the studio lights as her hand moves to his cheek and she raises herself up on tiptoe and kisses his lips quickly. It's a brief kiss, barely lasting a second but somehow, somewhere, a flashbulb pops, recording the moment for posterity.

"You get all my dances," she whispers in his ear, mic pack or no mic pack and he knows his smile is the equal of hers. 

Just like he knows they'll keep dancing together for the rest of their lives.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [please reveal if what you are is real](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8673283) by [helsinkibaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby)




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